


Sorry I Stole Your Heart

by WillowTea



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Ballet Instructor Yuuri, Ballet Student Yuri, Chief of Police Yakov, Detective Victor, Fade to Black, Implied Sexual Content, Journalist Christophe, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phantom Thief AU, They get a bit frisky, Victor and Yuuri still ice skate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:12:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 50,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10084442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowTea/pseuds/WillowTea
Summary: Victor Nikiforov is the top detective in the department. One day, he's sent to investigate a letter he assumes is just a prank. It turns out it wasn't a joke and Victor is dragged into a game of cat and mouse he's afraid he'll never be able to escape.





	1. Thief in the Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the Phantom Thief AU by [samochas](http://samochas.tumblr.com/). I loved the art and really wanted to write something based on it, so here's what I came up with. Enjoy!

Summer was a dreadful season. The blistering heat often got to the police officers in the big city department. It was muggy and warm and that was not pleasant in the least. The officers mulled about in their chairs, typing away at their computers and muttering halfhearted conversations to each other. For the most part, no one moved. The day had been dead since the morning and nothing had been called in. It seemed it was too warm for someone to commit a crime. Which was both good and bad.

All officers and detectives were required to remain in the office until their shift was over, which meant lazily browsing the internet, reading books, or just taking cat naps. Small desk fans blew about the room, the windows wide open where they could be. Nothing was improving the heat save the paper crafted hand fans and actual hand fans that some officers were smart enough to make or bring.

Victor Nikiforov was one such officer, waving his brightly colored, Japanese hand fan before his face to create a nice breeze as he browsed the internet. There were several new videos of his favorite figure skaters doing programs and he had managed to finish all of them before lunch even broke. All he had left to do was search the news and find something interesting to perk his interest.

It had been three hours and he was still at a loss.

The sleepy, tired police station was awoken with a jolt as the door to the director’s office slammed open. In the doorway stood a tall, intimidating looking man. He would have been taller if he didn’t slouch so much. On his head he always wore the same old, grey fedora he had since Victor first began working for him. His age was written in the lines on his face, though Yakov always insisted he was younger than he looked. No one ever believed him.

“Victor!” He yelled, almost as if Victor wasn’t directly in his line of sight. Normally, a shout from Yakov was because Victor was in trouble. This was common, since the department liked playing games of truth or dare and Victor always chose dare. The best had been when he had been dared to put glue on the brim of Yakov’s hat. That hadn’t ended well, but it had been so worth it.

However, the heat made the detectives and officers listless and there had been no pranking for the day. Rather, Yakov’s intense shout was in attempts to get Victor’s attention. Which he didn’t need to yell to do.

“Yakov! How are you this fine day? I haven’t seen you at all, yet. Looking well, I see.” Victor cooed, spinning his chair to face toward Yakov as the director crossed the room to the silver haired detective’s desk. He threw down a thin file folder with more gusto than was necessary for the tiny thing. With a single raised eyebrow, Victor picked it up with one hand and flipped it open with his thumb.

“We just got a call about this letter. Go check it out.” Yakov instructed, gesturing with one hand to the paper sitting inside the folder. There was only one sheet of paper and it was a blank piece of printer paper, save the writing in sloppy black ink in Yakov’s hand. New cases often started this way. Well, new cases that were called in.

“It looks like it could just be a prank, Yakov. There’s no reason to check it out.” Victor pouted, reading over the notes. The man was the owner of a locally owned jewelry shop and had received some kind of prank letter. Yakov had copied down the contents of the letter word for word, and they really didn’t seem to provoke the need for detective investigation.  
“You’re right. But you have nothing better to do and it shouldn’t take long if it is a prank.” Yakov explained, constantly angry eyes taking a sweep of the office as he spoke, clearly not very concerned with this new ‘case’. Victor shrugged and dropped the file back onto his desk, closing it as he did so.

“Alright. Fine. Like you said, I’ve got nothing better to do.” Victor replied with a sigh, finding it annoying that he now had to do something when the entire rest of the office had perfectly competent officers that could handle a prank letter.

“That’s what I thought.” Yakov agreed, slapping Victor violently on the shoulder before turning and heading back into his office. Victor coughed several times into his fan, the impact of Yakov’s hit having lodged some saliva down the wrong pipe. When he had finally gathered himself and Yakov’s door had slammed shut, Victor swiveled around and propped open the file again, continuing to fan himself while re-reading it.

Yakov’s sloppy scroll detailed out basically what Victor had already been told. The man had received a letter earlier that morning. It seemed slightly off, apparently, and the man had had a gut feeling that it wasn’t right. That was when he had jumped to the conclusion that it was some psychopathic thief threatening to steal the store’s prized jewel. Below these notes was where Yakov had written the contents of the letter:

‘Dear Jeweler,

I saw that lovely jewel in your store window, and I desire to make it mine. Don’t bother preparing a box, I intend this to be a quick transaction. I’ll be in and out before you even know I’m there. Please expect me at three o’clock Friday afternoon.

Thank you for your time,

Eros’

Victor snorted at the end of the letter. Eros? What kind of name was that? Bored out of his mind and with nothing else to do, Victor turned to his computer. Slowly, he typed with a single hand, searching the meaning of the name Eros. Victor was surprised at what he got. The name was of Greek origin, and not actually a name usually given to children. It was, in fact, the name of the god of Love. Or, a god of love.

“Oh, he’s Cupid!” Victor realized aloud as he continued reading. How funny. This person had chosen this name in particular as their alias? Why would they want to chose something like this? Upon further investigation, Victor discovered that Eros was one of the four words for love. The further he read, the more interested he became. Eros was, specifically, sexual desire. Why someone would want to name themselves that, Victor had no idea, but he had no more time to think about it when his phone began to buzz in his pocket.

Slipping it expertly out of his pocket he slid the button over to answer without even looking at who it was. As an officer, he got a lot of unknown numbers, so he had learned to answer every call he got.

“This is Victor Nikiforov.” He spoke formally, expecting something serious. There was a snort on the other end before a female voice spoke.

“Vitya, you really need to learn to look at your caller ID before you answer your phone.” Turning a light shade of pink, Victor flipped his phone away from his ear to look at the screen to confirm: it was Irina.

“Irina, darling! How are you? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Victor cooed, spinning his chair idly and fanning his fan faster. His sister had the worst timing in the world, but he still loved her despite it.

“Victor, it’s been a day. We saw each other yesterday.” Irina commented, sounding a little more on the irritated side. Victor scoffed at this, rolling his eyes at his sister like he expected she was doing at him. Neither of them could see each other, but it was a sibling telepathy thing. They just knew what the other was doing just based on the tone of their voices.

“A day is far too long, beloved Irina.” Victor pouted, taking to a slightly baby-ish tone as he said this. There was more snorting laughter on the other end, but he could tell it was in amusement and not irritation. For a moment there was nothing and then some shuffling before Irina finally spoke again.

“Can I ask you a favor, Vitya?” She asked, her voice sounding a bit distant as she asked this. A favor? His baby sister was asking him a favor?!

“Of course, Irina. I’d do anything for you!” Victor cooed, swooning slightly, half wishing she was actually in the room. If she saw him right now she’d smack him in the head and tell him to knock it off. But without her, it was just a bunch of his colleagues chuckling and throwing him confused looks. This was normal, but sometimes they just didn’t understand him.

“Good. Alexei’s car broke down on his way home just now and I have to go get him. I won’t be home in time to pick up Yuri from his ballet class, do you think you can go get him?” Irina asked, the shuffling sounds coming again, the sound of a door slamming after she finished her question.

“Of course! I love every opportunity I get to see my dear Yuratchka!” The excitement bubbling up in Victor had nearly boiled over. Yuri was his favorite – albeit his only – nephew and he would take any excuse he got to go say hi. Yuri was a big reason he went over to Irina’s so frequently. Although, Irina was also a reason he went over to Irina’s so often. Alexei wasn’t half bad himself.

“Thank you, Victor. It ends at five. The place is called Love Ballet and it’s right next to the place where Alexei got my ring.” Irina said, breath coming in pants as she headed down the stairs from her apartment to her car. The sound of a car door opening could be heard and her breath caught slightly when she dropped into the seat.

“Love Ballet? That’s a little cheesy.” Victor was pretty much the king of cheese, but that was just silly. Couldn’t it be something a little less vomit inducing? There was a slight chuckle from the other end of the phone before Irina shut the car door.

“Yeah. Yuri gets on my case every once in a while for it. But the owner is a good friend of Alexei’s and his ballet instructor is one of the best out there.” Irina commented, the sound of the car engine starting as she said this. Victor knew the conversation was going to be over soon, but he felt a little sad that they had to stop talking.

“Whatever the case, you can count on me.” Victor promised, a smile gracing his face easily, as if he were talking to her in person. He could tell she was smiling too with the way she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Vitya. I’ll see you later, alright?” Irina said, some shuffling sounds coming from the other end as their conversation drew to a close. Victor was glad he had a little sister. He had no idea how he could survive if he had no siblings.

“Of course, Irina. I’ll see you later.” Victor said before the phone clicked and he realized his sister had hung up. With a sigh, he spun his chair back to face his computer screen and set his phone down on the desk. He had a very vague recollection of where he had gone with Alexei to get Irina’s ring, but it was all a bit hazy.

Typing sloppily with one hand, he entered ‘Love Ballet’ into the maps search box, assuming it would be the only one to come up. Luckily, it was, and Victor was able to figure the route from his apartment to the ballet studio. Then again, he did have to stake out that other jewelry shop for the prank thief.

Turning toward the document Yakov had written out, Victor copied the address of the place into the search bar. As the computer figured it out, Victor figured out how long he would need to stake out. If it was a prank, he would wait an hour after the time the letter had said. That gave him enough time to get to the dance studio afterward. It even gave him enough time to stop by his apartment for a little snack.

Or the jeweler was the one where Alexei had gotten Irina’s ring.

The search completed to show Victor exactly this. The very shop Alexei and Victor had gotten Irina’s ring from was the one the letter had been sent to and was right next door to the ballet studio. This was both convenient and inconvenient, Victor realized. If it was a prank, he would have an hour between when he could finish his stakeout and when he would have to pick up Yuri. That gave him enough time to go back to his apartment, grab a snack, and then go pick up Yuri. If it wasn’t a prank, basically the same scenario played out.

Groaning, Victor leaned back in his swivel chair, fan in his hand still pumping lazily. His wrist was getting sore from the effort, but it was too hot to stop. It really was too bad that this stupid job required such professional clothing. Although, it was only the last month of the summer and soon the fall weather would be blowing in to cool them all off. Victor definitely looked forward to that.

After letting his eyes rest for a moment, Victor leaned forward again and glanced at the clock. It was 2:30. How far away was the ballet studio? His apartment sat neatly between the jewelers shop and the station, making the studio roughly half an hour away.

Half an hour away….

Victor shot to his feet, grabbing the tiny file folder and booking it out the door. It was a good thing he had decided to bring his car to work today rather than take the train, or he could potentially be late. It was also a good thing that rush hour wasn’t for several more hours and the traffic was light.

Victor pulled up before the jewelry shop with ten minutes to spare. Maybe he had gone over the speed limit a little bit, but he was a cop, he could do that. The small store wasn’t much different than he remembered it being fifteen years ago. It was two stories, the second being the owners apartment, and had large, glass windows showing off various specialty items in glass cases.

As Victor got out of his car, he scanned the area and spotted the ballet studio right next to the shop. It was roughly the same size and also two stories, though, he imagined, the second story was more studios. Above the door to the studio was a large heart and a sign in fancy scroll telling the whole street that this was ‘Love Ballet’. Despite how much Victor enjoyed love, this was kind of gross.

Ignoring the ballet studio – Yuri’s class hadn’t even started yet – Victor approached the jewelry shop, eyes grazing over the jewels in the window. One was a large ruby placed delicately on a cushiony pillow. It looked extremely expensive and absolutely gorgeous.

“That must be the one Eros was talking about.” Victor muttered to himself before grabbing the door’s handle and pulling it open. The bell above the door tinkled in a welcoming manner, alerting the store attendant to a visitor.

“Hello! Is there anything special you’re looking for today?” The man at the front asked, welcoming Victor further with his friendly attitude. He looked nervous, kind of on edge about something. With a reassuring smile, Victor strode easily to the front counter.

“Not really. I’m here about the letter you received.” Victor explained, offering a hand to the man to shake. “I’m Detective Nikiforov.” It was with cool ease that Victor finished this introduction, the man taking his welcoming hand and shaking firmly. It was as if Victor had cast a spell on him. His jittery nervousness of only moments before was suddenly gone, replaced with the relief Victor loved to see. He enjoyed when his title gave people comfort.

“Oh, good. You’re the detective they sent about the letter. I was afraid you’d never come.” The man said, dropping Victor’s hand to grab a handkerchief from his pocket to dab across his brow line. “I’m Jackson Connor. I’m so glad you’re here.” He added on, almost as an afterthought. Victor smiled.

“Don’t worry, we wouldn’t leave you unprotected.” Victor explained, smiling cooly right as the lights went out. The man ducked behind the counter, as if on reflex, and Victor whipped around to see if there was anyone else in the room. The store was entirely empty save him and the owner, yet the lights were out.

“Oh? What do we have here? You called for a detective. How rude, don’t you trust me?” The voice was silky and smooth, almost hypnotizingly beautiful and glossy. Victor’s head whipped around to the source of the noise and landed on the doorway leading to the backroom and probably the owner’s apartment.

“O-of course I d-didn’t! Y-you’re a theif! I kn-knew you w-were, so I c-called the p-police!” The owner stuttered from his place on the floor. Only the man in the doorway didn’t take his eyes off of Victor and Victor didn’t take his eyes off of the man.

He was gorgeous.

His black hair was slicked back against his scalp, a few loose hairs licking toward the ceiling lazily. It shone in the light coming from the big windows at the front of the store, giving him a glossy appearance as well as a glossy feel. His thin, Asian eyes were narrowed in a seductive manner, his lips turned up in a slight smirk. From the distance at which Victor stood, he could still see the bright, fiery color of the man’s eyes.

What he wore struck Victor as odd, but also really sexy. Attached to his shoulders was a cape, black along what he could see of the back and dark red on the inside. His full body suit was beautiful, lined with gems on the shoulder and around the waist. What caught Victor most off guard was the skirt around one half of Eros’ waist. It reflected a rather feminine appearance, accompanied by a sheer looking material along the shoulder on that side. The other side, however, was almost solidly black and had a long pant leg rather than a skirt.

“Well, well. If you’re a detective, why don’t you stop me?” Eros asked, snapping Victor back to reality, but only slightly. This man was the most attractive thing Victor had seen.

Then it clicked.

Eros was the Greek word for sexual desire. There could not have been a more accurate word for what Victor felt looking at this man.

“You really haven’t done anything yet.” Victor muttered, trying to get his brain back on track so he could actually deal with this properly. This Eros guy hadn’t done anything wrong, had he? All he was doing was standing there, being really, really sexy.

“Haven’t I?” He asked, swaying his weight onto his other leg so his hips swished seductively, ruffling his cape. Victor noticed he was wearing jewels around his neck and wrists, gems that looked rather expensive. Stolen? Maybe, but Victor had no proof.

“You have.” Victor said, hesitant to accuse this man of having done something wrong. Was he teasing Victor? Had he already done something wrong and Victor just didn’t know? As Victor stared, Eros made his way forward, walking with a deliberate swaying of his hips. It was hypnotizing, the way he moved, and Victor couldn’t help but find himself watching Eros’ body instead of his face.

“Detective, my eyes are up here.” Eros said, grabbing Victor’s chin and pushing it upward until the silver haired detective was face to face with the sexy Asian man. His narrowed eyes sported a bright, beautiful color Victor was sure he had never seen before in anybody. They were nearly as hypnotizing as the man’s body.

“You’re breaking and entering.” Victor finally said, pulling his handcuffs out his pocket and slapping them onto Eros’s wrist, the one holding his chin. Instead of looking shocked or frightened, Eros smirked, one corner of his mouth turning upwards playfully.

“Now you’ve got it.” Eros whispered, leaning in so close Victor could feel his breath on his face. The whimpering and stuttering of the shop’s owner could be heard from beside them, but Victor was entirely lost in the scent of mint coming off of Eros that it was hard to make out if the man was actually saying words.

Eros backed away quickly, grin broadening before he jogged lightly toward the front of the store. Victor’s eyes widened, surprised that he had the nerve to just walk away like that when Victor had handcuffed him.

“Where do you think you’re-“ Victor was cut off as he tried to advance toward Eros but was stopped short by a rough tug at his wrist. Gasping at the small bite of metal against his wrist, he turned to find his handcuffs cuffed to the metal bar at the front desk, set there for decoration. Victor felt himself heat up as he realized he had just been tricked and was now handcuffed and unable to re-arrest Eros.

“Oh, detective. You underestimate me.” Eros laughed, reaching the glass container that was holding the massive ruby Victor had spotted earlier. He pulled something from his hair before picking the lock to the case with it. Victor tugged and pulled, reaching frantically for the key in his pocket. Where was it? He could have sworn it was in this pocket.

“Are you looking for this, detective?” Eros asked, holding up the very key Victor was looking for as he pulled open the case and slipped the jewel out with one hand. He then turned around, closing the case behind him, and grinned, tossing the key halfheartedly toward Victor.

“I’ll be taking the jewel. Have a nice day, detective.” With these words, Eros winked and was out the front door as if that was the way he had come in.

The entire room was silent.

Then the lights came back on.

“What just happened?” The horror struck store owner stood from where he had been cowering behind the front counter to find Victor handcuffed to his front desk, drooping low in defeat. It was embarrassing, to say the least, but Victor had never been so flustered by a criminal in his entire life.

“He got away.” Victor sighed, not looking up. He was used to solving cases quickly, correctly, and without fault. Yet, here he was, a brand new case on his hands, and now he was handcuffed to a railing and the criminal had not only gotten away, but he had gotten away with what he had come for. Victor wasn’t sure if he wanted to see the look on the owner’s face.

“You let him get away!?” The man shouted incredulously. Victor nodded his head solemnly with a sigh. This was not happening. Yakov wouldn’t let him get away with this so easily. That ruby probably cost a lot of money and some new kid on the block had gotten away with it without a problem. Victor was the best on the force. How could this have happened?

“I promise, sir. I’ll get your jewel back. Can you please hand me the key to the handcuffs first?” Victor asked, pointing idly toward where the key sat on the wooden floors. The man huffed at Victor, but did as he asked, giving the key to Victor who promptly unlocked the handcuffs and then slid them back into his pocket.

“How could you let him get away? You’re a detective! I called you here so he wouldn’t get away.” The man pestered Victor like this all the way to the door as Victor tried helplessly to calm him down.

“I apologize, sir. I promise, you’ll get your ruby back. I can guarantee, we should have no trouble finding him. He’s very flashy. I’ll get back to you as soon as we have more details. I promise, we’ll get it back.” Victor attempted to reassure him, pushing his way out the door, the welcoming bell’s tinkle not nearly as welcoming.

The sweltering heat hit Victor like a brick wall as the door closed behind him and he was left to the world. Groaning, Victor ran his hands over his face and glanced down toward the window display where an empty pillow sat. Great. Just great. Best detective on the force and he had failed a brand new case. Yakov might literally kill him.

Sighing, Victor trudged back to his car, checking the time as he sat down in the driver’s seat. It was only 3:30? He had a full hour and a half before he needed to get Yuri, so he figured he could stop by his apartment and grab something larger than a snack. Maybe a cold vodka or two. Right as he put the key in the ignition, his phone began to ring. Sliding the answer button, he promptly put the phone on speaker, glancing down at the caller ID before putting his car in reverse.

“What do you want Christophe?” Victor mumbled, pulling out of the parking spot he had found and heading down the road toward his house.

“Wow, you sound like hell. What’s up with you?” Christophe asked through the phone, his cheerful voice grating on Victor’s normally cheerful attitude. Victor groaned loudly before giving Christophe an answer. With some safety measures.

“You can’t publish this in the papers.” Victor started, and there was a snort from Christophe’s end of the line. Victor rolled his eyes, knowing his best friend all too well.

“Every time you say that, the story you tell is paper worthy, Victor. Let’s just get it over with and I’ll decide whether to make a promise or not.” Christophe said, voice fast and lacking hesitation. As a journalist, Christophe was trained to speak quickly and get what he wanted in as few words as possible. As a detective, Victor was trained against criminal smooth talking. However, when it came to his best friend, Victor was a sucker.

“Yakov just gave me a new case. Some guy sent in a letter saying he was going to stop by this jeweler’s place to get a jewel. It didn’t say anything about stealing it, but the guy made assumptions. Since the office was dead today, Yakov gave me the case and said to just go check it out.” Victor grumbled, giving little details. Technically, he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about this until Yakov had put it into the official file. Some things were better kept quiet, but this was a thief. These cases were never confidential or even secret.

The owner of the jewelry store was likely going to tell friends about the whole thing and then friends would tell their friends and, well, the entire city would know whether Victor told Christophe or not.

“Did you botch this one? Victor, you never botch new cases.” Christophe’s voice was clearly surprised on the other end of the line and Victor groaned again. Irina would say he had met his quota for the day, but Irina wasn’t there, so Victor was going to groan angrily as many times as he wanted.

“The guy walked in, Christophe, and he was sexual desire incarnate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any human being sexier than this Eros guy.” Victor whined and there was more laughter on Christophe’s end of the line. Victor didn’t fail often, but when he did, Christophe was always there to laugh at him about it. Only a best friend could do that without getting murdered.

“That’s definitely not one I’ve heard before.” Christophe said when his laughter had finally died out. Victor turned a corner and his apartment complex came into view ahead of the car. He wanted so badly to go home and sleep, but he had to go pick up Yuri in a while and that prevented him from moping all alone.

“Yeah, well, it was true. He handcuffed me in my own handcuffs.” Victor pouted as he pulled into the parking lot to the apartment complex. There was sudden, snort filled laughter from Christophe as Victor pulled into his parking space, shoulders slumped, lip pouting. He didn’t need this from Christophe.

“Wow, this guy is amazing. I’ll have to meet him sometime.” Christophe wheezed, clearly out of breath from the effort of laughing so hard. Victor was pretty much done with Christophe’s crap as he took the phone off of speaker and got out of his car.

“Yeah, well, that’s only possible if I catch him.” Victor grumbled as he headed toward his second floor apartment. Grumpily he stuck the key in the lock and opened the door, shutting it gently behind him. He wasn’t the ‘slamming things’ fit thrower. He preferred keeping his fits quiet, yet dramatic. But there really wasn’t anyone to put a show on for, only Christophe on the other end of the phone, and Christophe didn’t really care.

“Then catch him.” Christophe commanded, his voice muffling and getting distant as he shouted something to someone on the other end. “Hey, I gotta go. But have a nice rest of the day, yeah? Relax, take a load off. See ya.” Christophe said, giving Victor barely enough time to respond before he hung up.

With a loud groan, Victor tossed his phone onto the counter in the kitchen before flopping down on the couch in front of the TV. The place was dead silent, as was usual for the lonely detective. He had an hour before he needed to be back at the ballet studio, which gave him half an hour before he needed to leave. Which gave him just enough time to make something good.

Which was what he did.

Lazily he stood back up, grateful for his apartment having air conditioning in the dreadful summer heat. He grabbed out chicken and vegetables and his chopped almonds and made himself a chicken salad sandwich with some extra vegetables for flavor. He was dumping it onto crescent shaped bread rolls when he looked up at the time, realizing it was already passed four-thirty. Hastily he dumped the rest of the salad onto the bread and booked it out the door, just barely remembering his car keys as he went.

The drive to the studio took longer this time with the early home goers clogging up the streets. Victor managed to make it to the studio just as the first kids began to trickle out of the building. After parking, he took his sandwich with him and raced across the street to the building, popping inside among the girls, guys, and parents.

When he was inside he realized the place was bigger than he originally thought it would be. There was an entire wall of mirrors to his right and bars lining basically every wall. One wall was lined with a makeshift bench of sorts where the last few stragglers were sitting, putting their shoes back on and stuffing their bags. That was where Victor spotted Yuri, putting his shoes on with an older man standing above him, talking to him in what appeared to be a rather hesitant manner.

“Yuri! There you are!” Victor exclaimed, startling the older man so much he jumped and snapped his head toward Victor, immediately flushing a deep shade of red. He was pretty cute, Victor thought as he approached his nephew, who was still tying his left shoe.

“What are you doing here?” Yuri growled, finishing tying his shoes with an angry flourish. Victor grinned and patted him on the shoulder gently.

“Your mom couldn’t make it, so she asked me to come get you.” Victor explained, his grin somehow widening. He turned to the older man standing above Yuri and the man immediately ducked his head, as if afraid to look Victor in the eyes.

“Are you his instructor? It’s nice to meet you. I’m Victor Nikiforov, Yuri’s uncle.” Victor said, his grin dying into a simple smile, trying his best to reassure this man that he wasn’t scary. It kind of worked, as the man looked up, directly into Victor’s eyes. He was Asian, which threw Victor off for a second, but the wide eyes were worried and scared and sprouted a wonderful color Victor could have sworn he had seen somewhere.

“Uh, I’m Yuuri Katsuki. Yes, I’m Yuri’s teacher.” The man said, hesitantly taking Victor’s hand to shake. They exchanged a firm handshake before Victor leaned in closer, breath nearly fogging up Yuuri’s glasses as he did so. The smaller man shied backwards, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“Could I take you out for dinner?” Victor asked, not even hesitating to voice what was on his mind. The red flush in Yuuri’s cheeks intensified and he began to back away, but was stuck since Victor hadn’t let go of his hand. He was saved, however, when Yuri grabbed Victor by the collar of his shirt and began to pull.

“C’mon! You came to get me, here I am, let’s go!” Yuri growled angrily, pulling hard enough he started to choke Victor. This made the silver haired man let go of Yuuri’s hand and walk backwards as he nephew dragged him out of the studio. He wasn’t able to ask if Yuuri was available for a date because they were out the door faster than Victor thought possible.  
“What was that!?” Yuri exclaimed once the door had shut behind them. He finally let Victor go, allowing him to regain his breath properly and cough a few times. Yuri led them across the parking lot where he saw Victor’s car sitting.

“He was very attractive and I wanted to go on a date with him. Is there something wrong with that?” Victor asked, following close behind, almost having to jog to keep up with his nephew’s fast pace. Yuri scoffed at this and turned abruptly when they reached the car.

“You’re my uncle and he’s my ballet instructor! There are a lot of things wrong with it!” Yuri exclaimed, opening the door the instant Victor unlocked it, practically throwing himself into the passenger seat with his duffle bag. Victor plopped down in the driver’s seat, glad the pace could be taken down a notch as he started the engine.

“Like what?” Victor asked, ready to get defensive. It wasn’t like it would be more than one date, it was just that Yuuri Katsuki was really handsome in a nerdy sort of way. Behind those glasses was someone else and Victor wanted to know who it was.

“Like you coming to pick me up more? You two might get all lovey dovey and that’s just…ugh.” Yuri said, shivering as he said this. Victor’s mouth flapped open and closed for a moment before he formed words.

“We would not do that! I promise, if we go on more than one date and end up being boyfriends, I swear we won’t get lovey dovey.” Victor protested as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. Yuri scoffed again, a habit that was natural of the small Russian boy.

“You can’t make promises you won’t keep.” Yuri growled, folding his arms defensively over his chest. Victor’s mouth flapped some more and Yuri rolled his eyes as they turned a corner toward the Plisetsky apartment complex.

“What’s wrong with being lovey dovey anyway?” Victor complained, beginning his pouty demeanor around his nephew. Yuri was used to his uncle’s antics by now, and they just served to annoy him.

“It’s gross, okay? Why do people kiss, anyway? Ugh, just the thought of it sounds disgusting.” Yuri shivered as he spoke and Victor’s eyebrows creased. Yuri didn’t like the idea of kissing? 

What kind of teenage boy didn’t like the idea of kissing?

“Yuri, kissing is perfectly legal. And it’s not gross at all. It’s actually really nice.” Victor explained as they turned another corner and Yuri’s apartment complex came into view. The small teen huffed at this, rolling his eyes some more.

“Whatever. It’s not like you’ve been kissed before.” Yuri grumbled and Victor felt himself getting angry now. It wasn’t often he got angry, but most conversations with Yuri could end up that way if Victor wasn’t careful.

“I have too been kissed.” Victor defended and Yuri just scoffed as they pulled into the parking lot. When they reached the apartment building he was in, Victor pulled to a stop outside and Yuri got out of the car.

“Don’t go out with my teacher.” Yuri commanded one last time before slamming the door shut and angrily stomping his way toward their apartment. Victor resumed pouting over the conversation as he pulled out and realized he had brought his sandwich into the studio with him and back to the car, but had yet to take a bite. Now he pouted over his grumbling stomach, the conversation with Yuri, not getting a date with Yuuri, and that stupid Eros.

He still was when he reached his apartment and when he got inside and when he sat down on the couch. However, he eventually fell asleep after finishing his sandwich, sitting on the couch, watching the news. His thoughts had been on Eros and Yuuri most of the night, but there was only so long he could stay up worrying. Sadly, he woke up with a crick in his neck. He made himself coffee and decided to take the train to work, not entirely awake enough to take his car. 

There was too much effort needed to drive.

The station was buzzing calmly with the cool morning air and a few early morning crimes to work on when Victor arrived. Everyone glanced his way, throwing out ‘good morning’s and ‘hello’s as he passed. With a sigh, Victor set down the coffee on his desk and took the file folder with him to talk to Yakov.

“Hey, Victor, someone left a package for you!” The voice was the young, station intern: Leo de la Iglesia. He was a kind kid, and definitely someone Victor could see joining the force soon enough. Victor turned to greet him and was handed a package immediately.

“Hey, Leo. Thanks.” Victor turned the package over this way and that, but it was a simple box with no markings except his name printed in neat handwriting on the front of the box. “Um, do you know who it’s from?” He asked, looking back up at Leo, who hadn’t left and had an expectant look on his face.

“No, not really. It was in the mailbox this morning when I arrived.” Leo explained, making Victor crease his eyebrows in confusion. Who would leave him mail but not attach an address or even a name? With a shrug, Victor opened it carefully, worried that it might be something dangerous.

It wasn’t.

Sitting neatly in the box with some padding around it was the ruby from the previous day. Leo’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the jewel, mimicking Victor’s own expression. He picked up the large stone and held it up, catching the attention of several other members of the force. Before long, the entire room had gone silent and was staring at it.

Gently, Victor handed the gem to Leo to grab the small, folded piece of paper at the bottom of the box. He was relieved when several people swarmed Leo and the jewel, glad to read the note all alone. It had been embarrassing enough telling Christophe that he had been duped, but the entire station? He was going to have to tell Yakov because he was his boss, but Yakov wouldn’t tease him mercilessly for it.

Unfolding the paper, he read it:

‘Dear Detective,

I apologize for my attitude yesterday. Here’s the jewel back, I hope you don’t lose your job.

Sorry I stole your heart,  
Eros’


	2. Cat and Mouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three months later....

Three Months Later

“Detective, don’t you think it’s about time you gave up the chase?” Teasing words cross an empty room, lights completely out, the only illumination coming from the flashing police lights just outside the building. A slim, fashionably dressed young thief stands before a well protected case of jewels, amongst which is the world renowned Graff Pink, and the gem the man appears to be going for.

“I’m afraid I can’t. You see, my boss has threatened to fire me if I don’t catch you.” The response came from none other than Victor Nikiforov who had, three months earlier, began this chase with the elusive phantom thief, Eros. The two had played cat and mouse for longer than Yakov was comfortable, and the strict chief of police had, indeed, started dropping hints that Victor would be out of a job if he didn’t catch Eros soon.

“Really? Perhaps he’s joking.” Eros suggested, swishing his cape slightly, as if bored of waiting for something. Which confused Victor. Why was he just standing there? Several times he had watched Eros just pop into a well protected glass case without hesitation, yet here he was, waiting for something.

“Yakov? Joking? I don’t think he has a funny bone in his body.” Victor scoffed, rolling his eyes as he stretched his leg forward toward the key that would unlock the handcuffs slapped so daintily onto his left wrist. Every time it was the same thing. Victor would arrive in time to greet Eros, the seductive minx would then proceed to cuff Victor to the nearest pole, and Victor would spend the entire heist attempting to retrieve the key – which was always thrown to a random location on the floor. It was always within Victor’s line of sight, and it was always so teasingly out of reach.

However, as Eros waited for whatever he was waiting for, Victor worked to grab the key. It was closer to his toe than he expected, and if he could only stretch his body just a little bit further, he might be able to reach it.

“Maybe someone told him as such and he’s giving joking a try?” Eros offered, swaying his weight from one leg to the other, placing a hand on the hip that was jutting out from his cape. Victor had to pause a moment and close his eyes, taking a deep breath to avoid the ever growing need for this man. When he had finally calmed himself, he laughed, stretching his toe and grinning at the satisfying clink of the key against the tile floor.

“I don’t see Yakov doing that.” Victor muttered in response, hoping Eros wasn’t watching his expression. If the thief could see how giddily the detective was grinning, he would know what had just happened. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Victor managed to slide the key within grabbing distance and immediately began working at the lock.

“Ah! Finally! Phichit, I think that’s the longest this has ever taken you.” Eros exclaimed, scolding someone who wasn’t in the room. Victor quietly palmed the cuffs and pressed them against his side, watching with curiosity as Eros argued with himself. Did he have an earpiece in? Victor had never gotten close enough while aware of himself to notice, but there was light reflecting off of something in Eros’ ear. So he had a guy helping him with the higher security cases, huh? It looked like Victor had more than just Eros to go after.  
As the thief worked the glass case off the jewels, Victor slowly made his way toward the man, watching the way he gently set down the cover before grabbing the jewel. Victor took this opportunity to lunge forward and slap the cuff onto Eros’ wrist, hastily slapping the other end onto the bar surrounding the jewel stand.

Eros whipped around, wide eyes on the cuffs on his wrist, trailing toward the bar it was attached to. It didn’t take long for his look of surprise to morph back into its usual, seductive smirk, eyes narrowing with glee.

“Oh, detective, I didn’t know you liked to play dirty.” Eros whispered, his breath tickling across Victor’s face, the strong scent of mint in the air. Victor felt his knees go weak and his mind begin to numb, but he willed himself to focus on the task at hand. With a teasing smirk of his own, he looked Eros right in the eyes, blowing silvery bangs from before his eyes.

“When it comes to catching you, I’d do anything.” Victor hissed back, letting Eros’ look of slight surprise wrap around him. The smaller man was clearly taken by surprise, but this didn’t last long as he stood up on his toes to get closer to Victor’s face, nose brushing gently across Victor’s cheek, causing the detective’s knees to go weak, this time without recovery.

“It’s too bad you haven’t caught me yet, then.” Eros’ whispered, voice barely audible despite the proximity. A shiver ran down Victor’s spine and the detective longed to reach forward and grab Eros by the hips, pull him in close, kiss those soft lips, and whisper things he would do if it meant keeping Eros for himself.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and Victor realized he had been daydreaming while standing before Eros when he could have been calling in the rest of the team to lock him up for good. Upon opening his eyes, though, he noticed there was a certain lack of phantom thief standing before him.

“Sorry detective, but I gotta run. See you next time, though~” With that, Eros jumped from the window he was standing by and disappeared into the dark alley beside the building. Victor moved to race forward but was yanked back painfully by the bite of his own cuffs around his wrist. Cursing under his breath, he pulled the key out of his pocket, glad that Eros hadn’t decided to take that with him.

Unlocking himself, he removed the cuffs and let them drop as he raced to the window, only to find the dark alley dark and empty. There was no one there. Cursing again, this time adding in a few more choice words, Victor ran his hands through his hair, messing it up and making some of it stand on end. His hair didn’t matter, however, when the elusive phantom thief, Eros, had once again escaped.

All because he was sexy as hell.

\----

“He got away again? Geez, Victor. These stories are only interesting for so long.” Christophe muttered, scratching the back of his head near the base of his neck. It was mid morning the following day and the two friends had found some time to walk through the park. Victor just wanted to avoid Yakov’s hint dropping and Christophe always enjoyed a good Eros story.

“I know, Chris. It’s not like I can just change them. No matter how hard I try, he always gets away!” Victor exclaimed, angrily taking a sip of his coffee. They already completed one lap around the park and were starting another. Victor’s coffee went cold ages ago, but he still drinks it to keep from screaming aloud.

“What did he do this time? Whisper in your ear?” Christophe asked, making a face at the idea that Eros whispered in Victor’s ear like an actual seductress. Victor rolled his head back and closed his eyes as he recalled the previous night and the smell of mint, the feeling of warm breath in his ear, the sound of Eros’ voice. A shiver ran down his spine and Christophe physically took a step away.

“He did! Wow, now that’s taking it too far.” Christophe shivered, shaking his head at the idea that the phantom thief basically was a seductress. Eros threw Victor off guard every time they were near each other. It was almost impossible to focus, which meant that Eros kept getting away.

“Well, if it helps him get away, I suppose nothing’s ‘too far’.” Victor muttered, talking into his drink as they walked along the paved path that surrounded the large park. The city was vast, nearly endless. Victor had lived here for years, but he still had yet to see all of it. The park was where most people went when they needed to feel like they weren’t in the city.

“Maybe, instead of trying to catch him, you need to figure out who he is?” Christophe suggested, tossing his own drink cup into the nearest garbage can. Unlike Victor, Christophe had been sipping idly at his drink the whole time. He had taken the time to drink while Victor told the story of the previous night. 

“I don’t have any leads! Only I know what he looks like. No one else has seen him since the first shop he hit, and even that guy ducked behind the counter.” Victor ranted, sipping angrily at his drink some more, as if this would punctuate his point. It didn’t, and Christophe tapped his chin in thought, ignoring the pouty expression that had crossed Victor’s face.

“Well, then, describe him to me. Maybe I can give you some starting points?” Christophe suggested, turning his head slightly to look at Victor and make sure he was paying attention. It wasn’t a bad idea, Chris was one of the top journalists in the city and knew how to get information that was hard to get. So Victor sighed and thought back to the almost countless number of times Eros had crossed his path.

It was really hard to forget what he looked like.

“He’s shorter than me, but not by a lot. He has black hair, but it’s always slicked back so I don’t really know how long it is. Oh! He’s Asian, though I’ve never been very good at telling the difference between the different races. He has to be close to our age, or he’s only a little bit younger. His eyes are a bright, amber color, I think. It’s always been kind of a low light whenever I see them, but it’s something like that.” Victor went into as much detail as he could and Christophe listened patiently. Despite looking where he was walking, Victor could tell Christophe was deep in thought. They had been friends long enough for Victor to know his subtle tells.

“Okay, so, look up all Asian men in the city between the ages of twenty and thirty. That has to bring up a smaller database than just searching the entire city.” Christophe suggested and Victor felt his hopes drop a bit. He had hoped Christophe would be able to point him toward a couple of suspects, but instead he had used the logical route. Sometimes Victor hated the logical route.

“Yeah, I suppose it would be a better start than what I’ve got.” Victor muttered, tossing his cup into the nearest garbage can. He was far from finished with his coffee, but it had gotten too cold to be satisfying and he wasn’t really in the mood for it anymore.

“You’re welcome.” Christophe grinned, winking at Victor when the detective turned to give him a look. Before the silver haired man could protest Christophe’s only minimal help, the blonde man moved the conversation elsewhere. “Anyway, I’ve gotta run soon. I have a press conference to attend later and then a date later tonight.” The change of subject was nice and Victor was glad for something else to think about.

“How long have you guys been going out?” Victor asked, knowing that it was very unlikely Christophe was going out with someone different from the previous week. The biggest difference between Christophe and Victor was their abilities to hold relationships. Christophe, despite being the bigger flirt and slightly more sexually appealing, was better at holding onto long term relationships. Victor was known for his one night to two week relationships, despite a desire to settle down with one person.

“A month as of tomorrow. So it’s kind of a one month anniversary.” Christophe cooed, love struck over his date. Victor grinned, chuckling lightly at the way he spoke, like a middle school girl in love.

“What are you, twelve?” Victor teased, earning a light shove from Christophe as if he was, indeed, twelve. It was much more like middle schoolers or high schoolers to get all gaga over month by month anniversaries. Adults were better at tracking long term anniversaries, if their relationships managed to last that long.

“I have every right to get all mushy over my boyfriend as you do.” Christophe joked back, laughing at the expression on Victor’s face. He was confused, though he probably should have guessed who Christophe was talking about.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” Victor protested, mind wracking when he could have possibly gotten into a relationship without knowing it. Before Christophe was able to answer, however, Victor’s phone began to ring and buzz in his pocket.

Slipping it out he checked who it was before sliding the answer button and answering with a grin, as if she was right there with him.

“Irina, darling! So nice of you to call.” Victor chimed into the phone, alerting Christophe to who was calling. All the Nikiforov’s had known Christophe since high school, though there were only two of them. Christophe and Irina got along like the bickering siblings while Victor and Christophe got along like the friendly siblings. It was an amusing situation when all three were present in the same location.

“Vitya, I’m sorry for asking yet again, but can you get Yuri from practice today?” Irina asked, voice slightly muffled in the background, slightly out of breath pants sounding from her end of the line. Victor has been asked for months to get Yuri. It wasn’t every day, but it had started to become at least once a week. Irina would ask her loving brother to pick up her son from his ballet classes.

After a while, she had stopped giving excuses because Victor had insisted he didn’t need to know. He started suspecting that she was doing this for days off from Yuri, which any normal parent would want. Victor had no problem with it, since he was allowed to see his favorite ballet instructor much more frequently.

“Of course, Irina! I’d be more than happy to.” Victor cooed, absolutely ecstatic that something would go at least a little well. Sure, Yuuri never said yes to dating Victor, but he didn’t run away every time Victor tried catching him. The same couldn’t be said for Eros. Yuuri was still out of reach, but he wasn’t as far out of reach.

“Thank you, Victor. I’ll see you soon.” Irina said, hanging up the phone before Victor had the chance to say goodbye. Looking at his phone for a second, confusion crossing his face, he shrugged it off and turned back to Christophe, who had a knowing look in his eyes.

“Irina wants me to pick up Yuri again.” Victor informed him, but he could tell Christophe already knew what had gone down. Victor was more than happy to pick up his nephew, but he was even more than happy to see Yuuri again. Even if it had been only a week.

“Going to flirt with his teacher again?” Christophe asked, eyebrows wiggling comically as he said this. Victor felt himself turn a light shade of pink, but his embarrassment was minimal since he really had no shame in the fact that he found Yuuri attractive.

“Of course! It wouldn’t be a proper visit to Love Ballet without a little flirting.” Victor stated matter-of-factly, earning a laugh from Christophe. It had become sort of a joke between them. Christophe had, originally, intended to just tease Victor about it, but Victor’s shameless methods of flirting allowed him to not be embarrassed by the teasing.

“Well, I should get going. You need to find that Eros and flirt with a ballet instructor!” Christophe said, turning to walk off with a small wave. Victor smiled, always appreciative of Christophe’s light hearted attitude. Sometimes he just needed a talk with Christophe to relieve stress.

“And you have a press conference to attend. Don’t ruin the date tonight!” Victor teased, earning a light slap on the shoulder for his words. He laughed as he pretended to run away and leveled to an easy jog the further from Christophe he got.

As he slowed to a walk, he thought about catching Eros and finally ending the three month long rivalry between them. Playing a game of cat and mouse had never been what Victor expected when he first looked into that letter three months ago. Yet, here he was, trying to find someone based on a vague description only he could recount. If only he knew what specific Asian nationality Eros was. Then he could narrow down the search significantly.

The office was emptier than most days, a cold Friday afternoon in late fall the perfect time to commit crime. There were a few officers and detectives milling about the room, but otherwise the place was rather dead.

“Victor! There you are. We haven’t gotten the gem from Eros, today. Do you think he’s finally broken his pattern?” This came from Leo across the room, the small intern who was still going through schooling to become a cop. It was cute, the way he tried to participate in whatever cases they received. Victor was more than happy to oblige with whatever details he got. Which were few.

“I don’t think so, Leo. It doesn’t seem like him. Maybe he needs to buy more stamps?” Victor suggested, and the thought that the thief needing to buy more stamps to actually send the package was funny. Despite it never being mailed, the package always had a new stamp on it. It was almost as if Eros collected them and was sending them each to Victor as a gift.

If he wasn’t, then the fact that Victor kept them might be a little awkward.

“Oh, that’s a good point.” Leo mused, tapping his chin as Victor got closer, making his way toward his desk near Leo’s. After the intern had been in the station for a few months, he was allowed to sit around with the detectives and cops, helping them handle paperwork when they couldn’t. His tiny desk was beside Victor’s, tucked neatly into the biggest space they could find. Leo didn’t mind it, he got to talk to Victor all the time.

“Why does Eros have so many calling cards? I mean, doesn’t he only need the letter? Isn’t that enough?” Leo asked as Victor took a seat, Leo dropping into his seat as well. Victor hadn’t seriously considered the need for so many silly things that Eros left behind. The letter, the flirting, always trapping Victor in his own handcuffs, giving the gem back the next day with a note and a stamp to complete it. Even his outfit was a calling card!

“I don’t know. That’s a good point.” Victor muttered, turning to his computer absently to open up the city’s database to start the search for Asians in the city. It was going to bring up more people than Victor was willing to search for, but Christophe had been right, at least it was a start.  
“Maybe he has an eye for detail? I mean, my boyfriend is pretty picky about how things need to be set up when it comes to dinners at home. Or making the bed. I don’t get it at all, but I just let him be.” Leo mused, tapping his chin in thought yet again. It was a common mannerism with the young intern, and had become slightly endearing to Victor.

“Maybe he does.” Victor mused absently, beginning the search by entering the criteria he and Chris had come up with. It wasn’t a lot and it certainly seemed a bit lacking, but Victor continued to tell himself it would be a useful place to start. Maybe it would take a long time to sort through them, but at least when Yakov asked if he had any leads, he would have something to say.

“Any plans for the weekend, Leo?” Victor asked, trying to come up with something to talk about while the database began its search. The question didn’t take Leo by surprise, as it had when he had first asked it. Rather, Leo continued the work he was doing without flinching at the sound of Victor’s voice.

“Yeah. Ji and I are going out for dinner tomorrow night.” Leo responded. The news that Leo had a boyfriend was old. They had actually been together since high school, Leo had informed Victor upon his discovering this information. It was amazing how long they had been together, but it was wonderful to know two people could be in love enough to stay with each other for that long.

“What’s with people and dinner this weekend?” Victor grumbled as he watched his screen, the database slowly loading the results onto one screen; searching the entire city took a while. To say Victor was a bitter single man was an understatement. He hadn’t even had a one night stand since Eros had shown up and he wanted someone to love so badly. If it was Yuuri, than that would be even better.

“What?” Leo asked, this time he looked up at Victor as he said this, questioning gaze crossing his face. Victor turned toward him and sighed.

“Oh, nothing. Just, Christophe’s going out to dinner with his boyfriend tonight, you and Ji are going out tomorrow night. I feel kind of left out.” Victor muttered, his bitter single pouting skills having been honed in the last three months.

“Sorry, Victor. I don’t know how to help, though.” Leo shrugged, clearly not really as sorry as he should be. Victor shrugged and turned his face back to the screen where the final results were glaring back down at him. To say there was a lot was an understatement. Groaning rather audibly, Victor scrolled through the list of black haired Asian men between twenty and thirty. Amber had not been among the list of eye colors in the database, so Victor had opted for brown. Which hadn’t narrowed the search at all.

“It’s fine, Leo. Just let me be bitterly single.” Victor mumbled to his screen, his words likely not even audible to Leo.

Over the duration of the next two hours, Victor called Asian men all over the city to ask of their whereabouts the previous night. Every single one of them either had a solid alibi with several people to back it up, or insisted they had been home alone all night, being bitterly single. Victor had barely cracked the C’s on the list when he checked the time. It was getting close to when he was supposed to pick up Yuri. With a sigh, he put down his phone and began saving what was left of his list, grabbing Leo’s attention with the sudden lack of tired phone calls.

“Has Eros said anything that might hint at who he is?” Leo asked, clearly trying to just be helpful. Victor shook his head, conversations with Eros embedded in his memory like carved metal. There was no way he could have missed anything when Eros spoke. He was always focused on what he-

Victor froze.

The previous night, while Victor snagged the key from the floor, Eros had been talking to someone in his ear. Pickit? Fidget? Phichit! He had called the person Phichit! A name, Victor had a name!

“You’re a genius, Leo!” Victor exclaimed, making the intern first jump a foot in the air and then blush several shades of red.

“Um, thank you?” Leo muttered as Victor began typing furiously onto his computer. Despite the broad database the city had, nationalities were broader than names. Especially a name like Phichit. It had to be foreign or something. How was it spelled? Victor typed three different searches before finally getting a result. Five Phichits in the entire city!

“Ahaha! Finally! I have something!” Victor exclaimed, several other faces in the office turning toward him as he said this. It had been three months since Victor had started the Eros case. It had been almost four months since he had shouted ‘I have something’ the way he just had.

“That’s great, Victor! What is it?” Leo asked, leaning over his desk to get a look at Victor’s screen. The Russian detective had no issue showing Leo the screen and jumping up and down in his seat, giddy to finally have a lead. The look on Leo’s face screwed tighter and he gave Victor a confused glance.

“Who’s ‘Phichit’?” He asked, looking over the five different Phichits on the screen. Victor shrugged and began to look at each of them in turn. There was no knowing how old Eros’ Phichit was, but the chance that they were over forty was slim. So three of them were doubtful suspects, leaving the other two.

“Last night, Eros was talking into an earpiece. He’s never done that, which was why it took me a while to remember it. He said the name ‘Phichit’ before opening the case and taking the gem. Phichit must be helping him somehow. I just have to figure out which Phichit it is.” Victor explained excitedly, glancing at the time off handedly before shooting out of his seat with an exclamation.

“I’m going to be late picking up Yuri! Leo, I’ll be back. Watch my computer for me!” Victor called, grabbing his jacket and racing out the door, words flowing from his mouth with no thoughts attached. Leo watched him go with a look of pure confusion. He hadn’t seen Victor actually get anywhere in a case, having only started a few months earlier. Seeing Victor not only get excited about finding a lead, but freak out about being late somewhere frazzled the young man just a little bit.

Victor managed to make it to his car without running into anyone, though he was close on several occasions. When he finally reached the studio, a few kids were trickling out, but there was no sign of Yuri, which meant he wasn’t late. The tall detective jogged lightly across the street, stopping just outside to catch his breath before slipping in, catching sight of tightly fitted yoga pants and a t-shirt that was just a little too small disappearing into the back before his eyes found Yuri.

“Ugh, you again.” Yuri groaned when he saw Victor walk in. His excitement from earlier still hadn’t worn off, so the indifference with which his nephew treated him bounced right off his glossy surface.

“Yuri! How’s my favorite nephew?” Victor exclaimed, approaching said nephew with arms wide open. Yuri pushed his hands at Victor’s chest but his fighting was in vain, as Victor dragged him into a big hug, the smaller of the two being squished awkwardly into his uncle.

“Gross! Let go of me!” Yuri shouted into Victor’s chest, pushing and shoving and struggling. Yuri was lithe and flexible, but he was far from strong. The strongest muscles he had were around his ankles to allow him into positions that would normally twist or sprain them. Otherwise, he was rather weak in the muscles department.

“Ah, Mr. Nikiforov!” The exclamation came from the tight shirt and pants that had just reappeared from the back room. Turning to look – and managing to let Yuri away in the process – Victor found his eyes met with the brightest, widest amber eyes behind thick glasses, scruffy hair a mess, some sticking to his forehead.

“Yuuri! How nice to see you too! How have you been? Still single, I assume?” Victor asked, approaching said Yuuri with as much charm as he could muster. Which was a lot more than usual, his positive attitude bolstered by the lead he had just gotten. Yuuri was immediately thrown off, something Victor had started to find endearing. Except when it earned him a rejection. Which it always did. It was a conflicting situation.

“I-I’m fine, thank you. I d-don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Yuuri stammered, backing away when Victor got closer, though not close enough to warrant backing away. Victor stopped moving, not wanting to scare the man too much.

“I was just wondering if you had plans tomorrow night? Maybe dinner at eight? Nothing fancy, unless you want fancy.” Victor said, his boldness level shooting skyward. Nothing could stop him now!

“Sorry, Mr. Nikiforov, but I’m busy tomorrow at eight. Free skating at the ice rink.” Yuuri responded. Okay, nothing except that. Every single time Victor asked him out he either said no and gave no excuse or said no and gave an excuse. This was a new one, which seemed a little farfetched to Victor, who was naturally attuned to the false.

“Really? What rink?” With such a large city, there were actually a lot of ice rinks. The only good one was on the outskirts of the city where the suburbs began. It was a little far, but it was frequently empty and didn’t seem to have much business. Victor knew he basically kept the place afloat with the amount of times he had ice skating parties or family reunions there. They loved him.

“The rink just outside of town. Ice Castle.” Yuuri responded and Victor felt his heart skip a beat. This was a man after his own heart! Not only was it almost always empty, it was beautifully decorated and filled with a positive atmosphere. The fact that Yuuri skated there made it even better. How had they not run into each other?

“Well, I suppose I’ll give you this one. But don’t think you can slip away so easily next time, Yuuri Katsuki.” Victor informed him with a flourish, blowing him a kiss as he turned to leave the ballet studio. Yuri made mock gagging faces, but Victor ignored him. His high may have been brought down just a peg, but he still had that lead on the Eros case to follow when he dropped Yuri off.

“Bye, have a nice day, don’t do anything too dangerous.” Victor called out the door as Yuri slammed it shut and stomped off toward the apartment. Victor only watched him reach the stairs before peeling out of the parking lot. Yuri liked to complain about how gross Victor was, but he hadn’t even been paying attention, ready to start calling up the Phichit’s to see which one knew Eros.

As he parked he felt his fingers begin to shake, anticipation of calling these men overwhelming him. He practically ran back inside to find the office nearly abandoned save Leo, cleaning up his work space.

“Victor, glad you’re back. There’s a package for you.” Leo informed him, pointing to the small box sitting on Victor’s desk. As usual, there was a stamp placed perfectly in one corner, and Victor’s name scrolled across the brown packaging in fancy script. His energy died slowly as he approached it, recalling that Eros was still out there.

“I’m almost there.” Victor muttered silently, picking up the box and opening it to find what he expected: the Graff Pink nestled in layers of bubble wrap. Picking up the gem, he allowed Leo to look it over and hold it carefully while he removed the bubble wrap to find what he expected: a small piece of paper folded in half.

Pulling this out he read it like he had three months ago, less shocked and more curious. Each note was almost the same thing. Apologizing for taking his time, informing him that the gem hadn’t been tampered with, and some line Victor shuddered at imagining Eros actually saying. This time, the line caught Victor’s attention.

‘Sorry I frosted your heart,  
Eros’

Frosted, huh? Victor didn’t feel cold at all, but melted and warm. But the idea of frost and ice crossed his mind and Victor remembered the conversation he had had with Yuuri only moments before. Ice Castle during free skate tomorrow night, huh? Victor felt his confidence in the case and his pursuit of one attractive ballet instructor rise. No one told Victor Nikiforov no.


	3. Starlight Skate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor ambushes Yuuri in the Ice Castle on public free skate night. Dreams really can come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so much fun to write. I love domestic fluff and these two are just OOZING it.

The night sky was freckled with billions of bright stars, the chilly fall wind whipping across Victor’s exposed face as he sped down the empty back roads. The drive to the Ice Castle wasn’t a terribly long one, especially during the time of night at which he was taking it. Since it was so beautiful out, Victor had decided to take his motorcycle, something that rarely saw the light of day.

This was because he enjoyed bringing it out during particularly starry nights like this so he could see the sky clearly. In the city it was impossible to see the stars, but as he neared the outskirts and headed toward the nearly abandoned suburbs just past the city limit, the stars began to peek out from various locations above him. It was so beautiful, he almost didn’t want to stop when he reached the Ice Castle parking lot. 

As he pulled his helmet off his head, rubbing his numb chin, he glanced around and noticed a particular lack of cars in the parking lot. To be specific, there were only two. One was parked on the complete opposite side of the parking lot from the entrance and one was just ahead of Victor. The farthest one must have been an employee, but why only one? It was free skate, shouldn’t there have been more?

Over the years, the Ice Castle had gone further toward bankruptcy, but Victor insisted on hosting parties there at least twice a year, barely managing to keep them afloat. Sometimes they insisted Victor stop and just let them close with what money they had left, but Victor begged and pleaded that if they wanted to drop it without losing any money, that they at least sell it to someone who will keep it as it was. 

They were still looking.

So Victor continued to fund the rink through parties and celebrations of various types. Most of the time it was a birthday party for himself or a friend. There had even been one year when he had thrown a party for Yuri and the boy had immediately fallen in love with the ice. Yuri was a far better dancer, but his skating was beyond mediocre compared to other skaters. It had been a beautiful moment. 

With a huff, Victor threw one leg over the seat of his bike and popped open the seat compartment to drop his helmet in. Locking this up he made sure the bike was off before slipping the key into his pocket and heading toward the entrance. The beautiful ice rink was lit from sidewalk to ceiling, bright white and blue lights visible for miles around it. The top was decorated with what appeared to be some attempts at a medieval castle, a couple of turrets stationed here and there. 

It was almost as beautiful as the sky above it, and Victor’s fondness for the place only made him sigh once more. 

Heaving himself into a good posture, he stepped inside and breathed in the cold air and old scent of rubber. The entrance was the same as it ever was with a wide open entrance that showed Victor only a small corner of the rink. There were benches and lockers between him and the rink, but he could still hear the sounds of blades against ice and see a graceful figure skating by. It must be Yuuri.

“Victor! It’s been a while!” This exclamation came from none other than Georgi Popovich, one of the employees that had been working at Ice Castle since Victor had first discovered it. Turning swiftly, Victor put on a big smile and walked up to the man, excited to see a familiar face. 

“Georgi! It sure has. Sorry I haven’t stopped by recently, I’ve been really busy.” Victor commented, pulling out his wallet to grab money for the fee. As he fished around for cash, Georgi laughed.

“Yeah, I saw. That Eros guy sure is giving you a run for your money!” Georgi laughed boisterously, his reaction a little bit over the top. Georgi had never been particularly loud in general, but his emotions were always exaggerated, making any funny moment a whole lot louder than necessary. Victor sighed as he handed Georgi the money.

“You read the paper too? I don’t think I’ll ever escape this thing.” Victor pouted as Georgi gave him the unnecessary stamp he needed to show that he was allowed on the rink. Georgi was the only employee there, which still struck Victor as odd. Even if there were only two customers, there was always one employee waiting by the door and one to watch the rink. 

“Of course I do. Who doesn’t?” Georgi said, turning around to the rows of skates behind him. It appeared they had moved skate rentals from its original spot to the front desk. They really weren’t having great business. “You won’t escape this until you catch the guy, Victor. Even then, people will still talk about it for years.” Georgi said, handing Victor the skates as he spoke. 

With all the times Victor had come to the Ice Castle, the employees had come to know the size he always asked for when borrowing skates. Despite his love of the activity, Victor had never gotten around to buying his own, but renting them did give the Ice Castle more money, even if it was two dollars. 

“I hope not.” Victor muttered, taking the skates and throwing his head back in a dramatic display of exasperation. This earned him a loud laugh from Georgi. Victor couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sound of the man’s laughter, missing the way it rattled his bones with its pure nature. “Anyway, tonight I hope to escape it.” Victor added on, looking up and glancing back to the rink as the figure on the ice passed once again, performing what appeared to be a jump. 

“It’s not completely an escape tonight. This guy keeps coming at least once a week, now. I’m glad someone else enjoys this place as much as you do.” Georgi commented, leaning over the counter to get a glimpse of the man as he skated by again, fancy footwork jogging his body back and forth across the ice. Victor let out a low whistle as he completed the dance before swooping off to the other end of the rink.

“You wouldn’t happen to have caught his name, would you?” Victor asked, attempting his best at being nonchalant. He was almost perfectly certain it was Yuuri on the ice, since he had told Victor that this was where he would be at this time. Still, Victor wanted to make sure he had the right person before he ambushed the guy.

“Yuuri Katsuki. Very Japanese. He’s really good, too. I don’t even think I can do all the stuff he can do, and I’ve had professional training.” Georgi responded, not catching the way Victor’s face lit up at the sound of Yuuri’s name. Victor hadn’t only been excited to catch Yuuri out on his own, but knowing that Yuuri was good made Victor want to get out there even faster. 

“Thanks. Don’t want to be a stranger on the ice.” Victor responded, giving Georgi a small, two finger salute before heading toward the benches to put on his skates. Georgi returned the salute before sitting down at the chair behind the counter to play around on the computer. 

The air grew silent once more save the gentle sounds of Yuuri’s skates on the ice and the music turned down very low. With the lack of chattering buzz that most free skates had, the place didn’t need to turn the music nearly as loud for it to be heard, so it was silent enough Victor had to really focus to tell what it was. 

With his skates tied tightly in place, Victor wobbled expertly toward the entrance and, for a few seconds, watched Yuuri skate.

The grace with which this man moved was astonishing. Perhaps it was partly because Yuuri was a ballet instructor, but his lithe body bent and twisted with a certain elegance Victor was pretty sure it shouldn’t be able to achieve. The way he turned and spun and jumped was so breathtaking, Victor had to force himself to breath before stepping onto the ice.

“Wow, it looks like the ballet instructor can do more than dance.” Victor commented, gliding easily across the ice, careful to not get in the way of Yuuri’s routine. This thoughtful precaution wasn’t necessary because the instant Yuuri heard Victor’s voice, he whipped around to see who was speaking and his legs slipped out from underneath him.

With a painful thud, the smaller man hit the solid ice and slid a short distance before groaning and raising himself slightly. Victor whipped over as quickly as he could manage – which was very fast – and offered a hand toward the black haired man.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you like that.” Victor said, leaning down a bit more to offer to help him up, hoping he hadn’t hurt Yuuri too much. It would definitely bruise, but it didn’t look like he had broke anything. 

“N-no, it’s fine.” Yuuri responded, reaching up hesitantly and taking Victor’s offered hand. As the Russian man pulled him to his feet, he realized how positively chilly Yuuri’s hands were. Why wasn’t he wearing gloves? Now that Victor was looking carefully, he realized Yuuri’s outfit wasn’t really suited for skating. Sure, it allowed for the wonderfully fluid movement he had been doing earlier, but for the chilly temperature of an ice skating rink? It was lacking. 

“Aren’t you cold?” Victor asked as the smaller man brushed off his legs where he had landed, the shaved ice from the rink falling toward the solid surface lightly. It looked like Yuuri had been there for a while, the ice carved up from his blades. There were almost no clean spaces anymore. 

“N-not really. I’ve b-been out here for a wh-while.” Yuuri responded, avoiding looking at Victor as he steadied himself on his skates. Victor smiled fondly at Yuuri and chuckled.

“Yeah, I saw. You’re really good.” Victor complimented, glad to finally see Yuuri away from Yuri and the rest of his class. It was rare he ever got to see the instructor on his own, in his element. Victor was almost always late when picking up Yuri, so he never got to watch him in the studio. 

“Th-thanks.” Yuuri responded, looking down at his skates and dropping into silence. Victor knew it would be hard to have a conversation with Yuuri, it always was when Yuri was around, but he had assumed that it would be easier here. They were the only two on the rink, almost the only two in the building, and there was only a small element of surprise.

So why was it so quiet? 

“I hear you’ve been coming pretty frequently.” Victor tried, hoping to get some sort of conversation going. If he could at least get Yuuri to say something, then this wouldn’t be so awkward. 

“He told you that?” Yuuri asked, voice incredulous as his eyes whipped up to Victor’s. They were wide and full of surprise, and emotion that made them shine brighter than usual. It was a good thing Victor was good at surprising Yuuri, or he would rarely get to see that expression. It took the silver haired man a second to pull his mind from the gaze to respond properly.

“Oh yeah. Georgi and I go way back. He’ll tell me anything if I ask him.” Victor responded with a wink, skating lazily backward, successfully getting Yuuri to follow him slightly. They moved slowly, only gliding about the rink with little thought as to where they were going. It was a soothing rhythm they were keeping up, echoing the feeling of the song that had just started. 

“You asked him how frequently I come here?” Yuuri asked, voice turning from incredulous to slightly confused. Victor laughed lightly and shook his head, weaving a small path smoothly across the ice, echoed softly by Yuuri in front of him.

“No, I asked him if he had caught your name. He just kept talking after that.” Victor told him, closing his eyes with amusement at Yuuri’s question before opening them again to be met with a confused look. Yuuri’s face distorted to an extreme that made his expressions obvious to anyone watching his face. His eyes narrowed, his brows creased, and his mouth hung open slightly as if ready to form another question on cue. 

“Why did you ask him for my name? You already know it.” Yuuri muttered, following just a bit closer to Victor than he had been before. It looked like getting him moving was enough to get him talking, so Victor figured keeping him moving would be best if he wanted to keep him talking. 

“I was making sure it was you.” Victor said with a shrug, doing a small loop for a second, eyes moving away from Yuuri as he did so. For the split second he couldn’t see the Asian man, he imagined what expression might be on his face. Shock? Surprise? Something else? With a flip of his bangs and a swift turn, Victor found the answer to his question.

Embarrassed.

Yuuri’s eyes had widened in a similar manner to his surprised face, but his eyebrows were twisted and creased in a manner that suggested he was nervous in some way. His lips were pulled into a tight line and, once Victor turned around, his eyes darted away from the taller man’s face in favor of the ice. 

“You came here just to run into me?” Yuuri asked, his voice even despite his clearly flustered expression. Victor smiled and laughed lightly, slowing a bit so they were closer.

“Yeah. When I’m chasing something, I take any lead I can get.” Victor responded, realizing that this was true for both Yuuri and Eros. The only lead he had with Eros was the name Phichit. With Yuuri, it was the Ice Castle. Luckily, Yuuri was easier to catch because he knew his identity. Eros was much a much harder target to pin down, but his lead was going to get him somewhere. 

“Like with that Eros case?” Yuuri’s hesitation was clear, this question was something he wouldn’t have normally brought up in a conversation. The fact that he asked at all shocked Victor. However, once this shock had passed, the detective sighed, disappointed that he had been wrong and this ice skating escapade was not his escape from the Eros that was following him.

“Even you read the papers?” Victor groaned, turning away from Yuuri completely to skate facing forward, dodging this way and that to pick up speed and do a full loop of the rink before skidding to a slower pace beside Yuuri, whose suddenly bold nature when asking the question had disappeared completely. 

“I’m s-sorry! I d-didn’t know you didn’t like it b-being brought up.” Yuuri stammered, eyes flickering from Victor to the rink floor rapidly. Victor waved his hands around at the sudden way Yuuri was reacting.

“No, no, it’s fine! It’s just a tough topic for me! I’ve been chasing this guy for months and I’m still nowhere near catching him!” Victor insisted, nervously trying to calm Yuuri down with his words, eyes looking down at Yuuri worriedly. He hadn’t meant to scare the guy, he had just gotten a little frustrated that he couldn’t escape the topic no matter who he was talking to. Yuri had even begun to tease Victor about it about two months into the chase.

“Well, I’m no detective, or I’d try to help.” Yuuri responded, expression turning from flustered to mildly nervous, this change in demeanor calming Victor as well. With a sigh, the detective ran his fingers through his hair as they pushed gently forward and turned a corner on the rink, gliding in silence for a few minutes as the music played above them. 

As they skated, Victor recalled why he had come here. He had already broken the ice – thankfully not literally – with Yuuri and now he needed to move into something else. Putting on a determined face, Victor slid himself around to face Yuuri so he was skating backwards again. 

“Have you ever tried pair skating?” He asked, immediately taking in the flustered expression that overcame Yuuri’s face. Ignoring the adorable way that the pink brushed his cheeks and the way his eyes darted around as if trying to find someone who might be listening in, Victor waited patiently for an answer, expression unwavering. He wanted Yuuri to know he was being very serious. 

“N-no. Skating’s j-just a hobby for me.” Yuuri finally responded, his eyes flickering hesitantly up toward Victor, fluttering beneath thick lashes that hooded them beautifully. It was the most bashful look Victor had ever seen on anyone’s face, and it was made all the more beautiful because of who was making it. Victor could help but sigh at the expression, melting into it.

Covering himself quickly with a small cough, Victor slowed in his pace and straightened himself up with his hands in the positions anyone would recognize as a couples dance.

“Want to give it a shot?” Victor asked, hoping desperately that Yuuri would let him try, if even for just a small while. There was clear hesitation in the Asian man’s posture, the way he looked behind himself toward the entrance, as if Georgi was watching every move they made – to be honest, he probably was – and then slowing his own pace so he didn’t run into Victor. 

“D-do you know wh-what you’re doing?” Yuuri asked, finally giving in and sliding in close to Victor, his chest brushing lightly against the other man’s, hands linking neatly, the clearly nervous shaking becoming more evident at the contact. For a moment Victor had no idea how to respond. Not only had Yuuri said yes, but they were actually doing it! Part of Victor had believed that, even if Yuuri said yes, something might interrupt them before they came into contact.

Yet, here he was, hand in hand with the beautiful ballet instructor. 

“O-only a little.” Victor’s voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat to start again, hoping Yuuri hadn’t caught it. Whether he had or not, the black haired man didn’t show it because he was working through rather panicked emotions instead. Attempting to reassure him, Victor grabbed his hands tighter, giving them a small squeeze to prove that he was holding on tightly.

“What? Th-then why did you ask?” Yuuri became more flustered with the prospect of doing something even Victor barely knew how to do. It took most of Victors willpower to not sound offended, it wasn’t like pair skating was any more dangerous than single skating. Unless you did holds, but Victor wasn’t even going to attempt some of those. That was just stupid.

“It can’t be any more difficult than a dance.” Victor offered, attempting to keep his voice soothing as he began to skate backward. Similar to a dance seemed harder to pull off as he remembered they were wearing skates, but he could modify that easily. 

“I d-don’t know how to dance couple dances.” Yuuri informed him, watching Victor’s feet as they began to slide a little faster across the ice. His hands gripped tighter around Victor’s and the silver haired man felt his heart flutter in his chest until he realized he was going to lose circulation real quick of Yuuri didn’t ease up a bit. Still, he ignored this. The only way to loosen the grip was to ease the mind.

“Then I’ll teach you.” Victor responded, tilting his head so he could look directly into Yuuri’s eyes as he said this. The smaller man caught his look and, as Victor lifted his head so it was straight, followed his eyes until he was also standing straight again.

Then, Victor taught him to dance.

It was much more difficult to do on the ice, but once they had picked up speed it wasn’t much different than the footwork in a singles program. They didn’t have to think about stepping on each other’s toes, the skates blocked any possible contact, so they really only ended up kicking each other on their hard toed skates. For the first minute, Victor worked Yuuri through the counting of a simple waltz, allowing him to watch his feet as he whispered the counts to the smaller man. 

They spun around the rink, the slide across the ice allowing the dance to arc longer and much more elegantly. They twisted and turned and counted and spun and, as Yuuri got used to the counting and where his feet would be, he began to look up.

“This isn’t that bad.” He said with a grin, voice near a whisper from his concentration and the silence that had overcome them during the small lesson. Victor smiled softly, glad to hear what Yuuri had said.

“That’s good. Shall we try for a real dance, then?” Victor asked, their footwork having stopped as they slid to a slow stop near the center of the rink. With the nod of Yuuri’s head, Victor started them on their way.

Perfect didn’t even begin to describe the situation Victor was in right now. 

The room was almost virtually silent to Victor, sound very rarely passing by his ears as he gazed into Yuuri’s eyes. The beautiful amber color shone bright in the overhead lights as he grinned dumbly at Victor’s face. Each turn of their bodies guided them further across the ice, but Victor wasn’t paying very much attention to the moves anymore. Just watching Yuuri’s face was all that mattered now, not the twisting and turning and spinning and waltzing. 

Just Yuuri.

As he stared, the song changed on the overhead speakers, playing something with a soft waltz beat of its own. Victor wouldn’t notice that Georgi had been watching until after they had finished dancing, but for the moment, the music simply blended with the sounds of their skates skidding across ice, creating a beat they could move to, reducing Victor’s need for thought even more. 

Overhead beams seemed to twirl around them, going out one by one until it was a single spotlight, following them across the ice. Sparkling lights danced in the dark on the very edges of Victor’s vision, small fairies created by the light shining off the ice. They danced with the two men as they skated across the ice in their silent waltz, encouraging them to keep going, to never stop, to live in the moment for the rest of their lives.

Victor was more than willing to take this offer.

He felt a small smile cross his face, unaware he had been staring with mouth agape at Yuuri, no sign of emotion except some kind of shock. Despite this, Yuuri had held a fond grin, dopey and child-like, echoing what Victor was feeling. Could you feel like a child at this age? Victor knew there were people who did, but he himself had never considered himself a child, despite constant protests from family and friends on this matter. 

Right in that moment, Victor felt like a child.

He wanted to laugh, he wanted to sing, he wanted to grab Yuuri by the waist and pull him closer, kiss him and hug him and tell him he loved him.

Without thinking, one of these thoughts became reality and Victor pulled Yuuri’s body closer to his, giddy eyes drinking in the beauty of the man before him as Yuuri’s silly grin turned down into a worried frown. 

Then Yuuri let go and the magic broke. 

Suddenly they were alone, in the middle of an empty skating rink, some kind of pop song playing in the background. The rink was fully lit, the spotlight having just been a dream, and Victor was standing across from a flustered looking Yuuri who was fiddling with his hands. 

“I should go, Victor. I don’t want to get to bed too late, it’s bad to lose too much sleep.” Yuuri said, not looking Victor in the eye, wringing his hands and shifting his feet nervously. Victor felt his giddiness die into disappointment, realizing it must have been something he did. Unless Yuuri really was the type to go to bed on time, but Victor figured that wasn’t likely the case.

“Oh, okay. Yeah. Sleep is a good idea. I’ll need some too. I th-think the Castle is about to close, anyway.” Victor responded, avoiding sounding upset with every fiber of his being. Yuuri wasn’t ready for what he had done, he needed time and space. Victor had asked him on countless dates and the man had said no, had insisted he didn’t date, and here Victor was, forcing a date on him without prior warning.

How cruel he was.

“This was nice, detective.” Yuuri offered as Victor began his journey toward the exit near the lockers. Hearing this from Yuuri brought back a small spark of hope as they crossed the ice. Maybe he wasn’t ready yet, but this ice breaker had somehow opened Yuuri up a little more. Maybe he had his foot in the door after all.

“It was, wasn’t it? It’s been a while since I’ve just gotten out of the house to skate for a few hours.” Victor responded, looking up at the bright white ceiling of the Ice Castle, the beams above his head holding bright lights that had been dimmed slightly to keep the stark white from hurting their eyes. It had been relaxing, to do something apart from work for once. Having Yuuri there was simply a bonus. 

They stepped off the ice and toward the benches, greeted immediately by Georgi, who had left his booth to head toward the ice. He stopped when he saw them coming and grinned widely, as if something about them was amusing.

“I was about to go get you two. We’re closing now, but it looks like you knew that.” Georgi informed them, taking a couple of steps back as he said this before turning toward the booth so he could check their skates back in.

“Thanks, Georgi.” Victor called, grabbing his shoes from the empty locker he had placed them in before sitting down to untie his skates. As he tied his shoes back on, he watched Yuuri do the same out of the corner of his eye. It was almost elegant the way he sat, his soft smile from the side was beyond beautiful and Victor couldn’t help but stare a little, snapping back to his shoe when Yuuri’s head began to turn in his direction.

“It was nice to spend some time with you, Victor. I need to go now if I’m going to catch my train.” Yuuri said, offering a hand for Victor to shake. He did so, glad to have one final contact with Yuuri, but his expression turned into confusion at what the smaller man said.

“Train? There are two cars out there, one of them isn’t yours?” Victor asked, grabbing his skates from the floor and standing to his full height, eyes not moving from Yuuri’s face. For a second the black haired man looked confused, but realization dawned on his face.

“Oh, no. The one at the back of the parking lot has been there for two weeks now. No one has claimed it and the towing company has taken its sweet time getting out here.” Yuuri responded, chuckling lightly. So the car near the front was actually Georgi’s? Victor mentally kicked himself for having bailed on the Ice Castle for so long that this story hadn’t crossed his ears. 

“Well, I don’t want to make you take the train so late at night. Why don’t you catch a ride with me?” Victor suggested, gesturing that they head toward the booth to turn in their skates while they walked. Yuuri shrugged, grabbing his jacket off the bench as they moved. So he had brought a jacket after all.

“It’s alright, I do it a lot. I’ll manage.” He responded, sounding so nonchalant about it Victor almost felt pained about it. The train at night had to be frightening. Why would someone want to take it when they had been offered a ride by someone else?

“No, I’ll take you. I have room.” Victor insisted, saluting Georgi as he handed him his skates. They exchanged small goodbyes as Yuuri handed in his skates and turned back to Victor, waving his hands in protest.

“No, really, it’s fine. I can handle it.” Yuuri insisted, sounding a little desperate and very flustered at Victor’s own insistence. Unlike asking Yuuri on a date, this was something Victor was okay with pushing multiple times in the moment, since it was something that was immediately about to happen.

“C’mon, I’m taking you.” Victor pushed, guiding Yuuri toward his bike with one hand on his shoulder, interrupting his protests. “Nope, no ‘buts’, I’ve got room, I’ve got time, I’ll take you.” Victor said, stopping when they reached his bike to get the helmets from the bike seat. Turning to hand Yuuri a helmet he stopped to stare curiously at the ghostly pale man in front of him.

“Is something wrong?” Victor asked, glancing between Yuuri and his bike. It was a harmless creature, really, not entirely his style but definitely nice to have for occasions where he wanted to view the night sky. It took a few seconds, but Yuuri snapped out of his stupor slowly, coming back to life.

“You own a bike?!” He asked, voice incredulous as Victor gently handed him the helmet. Victor nodded slowly, as if this wasn’t already obvious because they were standing right next to it and Victor had just unlocked the seat compartment with the key he had taken from his own pocket. 

“Yeah. Is it okay?” Victor asked, slipping his own helmet over his head, flipping up the visor to allow his view of Yuuri to go unobstructed. 

“I th-think I’d definitely rather t-take the train.” Yuuri muttered, pushing the helmet against Victor’s chest in attempts to give it back. Victor didn’t take it, but instead, pushed it back toward Yuuri.

“C’mon, you’ll be fine. I’m a very safe driver and there are hardly any cars on the road at this time of night.” Victor offered, hoping Yuuri would accept. The smaller man didn’t say anything and appeared to have refrozen in place, so Victor grabbed the helmet from his hands and slipped it over his head. It fit perfectly, even overtop his glasses. Looking Yuuri in the eye, he grinned in hopes that reassuring the man didn’t take more than a smile.

With that, he swung his leg over the bike and scooted closer to the front. There was enough room on his bike for two people, he had bought it with a large seat for comfort and was glad it came in use here too.

“Get on, before I leave you behind.” He joked, sticking his tongue out at Yuuri as he said it before flipping his visor back down. Yuuri did as he was instructed and swung a leg over the back of the bike, pressing himself tightly against Victor’s back and hugging the detective so tightly around the waist he was having trouble breathing. 

Not only because it was tight.

“Alright-“ Victor started, clearing his throat with a cough as his voice cracked for the second time that night. “Alright, let’s go.” He finished, turning the key to start the bike and then pulled smoothly out of the parking lot. Yuuri’s grip tightened even further around Victor’s waist, if that was even possible, and the ballet instructor’s head pressed uncomfortably between Victor’s shoulder blades. 

Ignoring this pain, Victor rode carefully through the night, paying extra attention to the speed limits and taking turns gently to avoid spooking Yuuri. As they drove toward the city, Yuuri’s grip slowly began to loosen and his head left the nook between Victor’s shoulder blades in favor of the detectives shoulder, watching the bike drive down the street, the lights of the city drawing nearer.

Yuuri’s lips moved but no sound came out over the drone of the bike. As they neared a stop, Victor flipped up his visor and turned to look at Yuuri.

“I can’t hear anything over the bike, so let me just….” Victor muttered, sticking his tongue out as he searched the side of Yuuri’s helmet and flipped a switch before doing the same on his. More often than not it was Christophe riding with him, occasionally Yuri or Irina, and they had all complained about not being able to talk to him. Even Yuri, whose conversations with Victor mainly consisted of how stupid he thought his uncle was.

So, Victor had bought new helmets with walkie talkie devices implanted inside of them.

Flipping his visor down, he took off as the light turned green. 

“Now I can hear you.” Victor spoke, feeling the jolt in Yuuri behind him at the shock of hearing his voice so clearly. He couldn’t help but laugh slightly, earning a good elbow jab in the side, causing him to lose control of the bike for a few seconds, further frightening Yuuri.

“Don’t mess with the driver.” Victor scolded as the sounds of Yuuri’s panting breath came through the speaker in his helmet. For a moment there was nothing else except this sound, until Yuuri calmed down and resumed his resting position on Victor’s shoulder.

“Sorry, you startled me.” Yuuri muttered as they finally entered the city limits and Victor realized he had no idea where he was going. Where did Yuuri even live? The dance studio wasn’t owned by him and the upstairs was just more studios anyway.

“You’re going to have to tell me where to go.” Victor pointed out as they turned a corner, his instincts working their way toward his own apartment complex.

“Just head toward the studio, I can point you from there.” Yuuri responded, gesturing randomly with one hand to indicate the general direction of the studio. Victor did as was instructed and headed toward the studio. As soon as they came into view, Yuuri began point out the way to his own apartment complex.

It was basically just a really convoluted way of saying ‘behind the studio’.

Victor pulled to a stop outside the building Yuuri had indicated was his and removed his helmet as Yuuri swung his leg over the bike and stood up. Setting his own helmet in his lap, he took Yuuri’s when it was offered to him and, for a moment, they stayed silent, neither moving.

“Thank you, for driving me, even if it was a bit frightening.” Yuuri finally said, eyes lighting up slightly as he looked at Victor in the low light of the parking lot street lights. Victor smiled, glad to hear Yuuri had enjoyed the ride.

“It was nothing.” Victor responded, not really caring much except for this moment. It was the classic ‘just drove the girl home from a date’ moment in the movies where the guy would lean over and give her a kiss. Only they weren’t in a car, they hadn’t been on a date, and Yuuri was standing beside him.

“No, really, sometimes the train can be pretty scary.” Yuuri admitted, his cheeks flushing a faint pink barely noticeable in the low glow of the lights. Victor felt himself melt into this expression, finally coming to himself after a couple of seconds.

“Why don’t you pay me back then?” He asked, wiggling his eyebrows and making eye contact with Yuuri in the most flirtatious way he could manage. Instead of laughing, which was what most people did, Yuuri sighed and looked down.

“I’m sorry, detective. I can’t date anyone right now, I just don’t have the time.” Yuuri muttered, giving a weak wave goodbye before jogging toward his apartment and abandoning Victor in the dimly lit parking lot of his apartment complex. 

For what felt like several minutes, Victor sat there, staring at the spot where Yuuri had been only moments earlier. The whole night had been straight out of a dream, something Victor had never expected would ever happen to him. Yet, it all had to come crashing down with only a few words. 

Grumbling to himself, he angrily stood up and angrily tossed Yuuri’s helmet into the seat compartment and angrily shoved his helmet back on his head before angrily revving the engine and shooting off through the apartment complex toward his own place.

He could never have anything he was after and it infuriated him. If he couldn’t have Yuuri, then at least he could have Eros. There was still that lead he needed to follow and it was waiting for him at his office, waiting to be picked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Phichit!


	4. A Little Push

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor's getting tired of the games, especially when his lead wasn't what he expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More poor Victor. Kind if a filler chapter, but it was nice.

The early morning lacked a beautiful sun for Victor to watch as he drove through town. It was part of his job to get up before the sun did, but he always missed the sunrise, which was his favorite part of getting up early. After the night he had had on Saturday, he wasn’t about to let the lack of a sunrise keep him down.

With a rather defiant flourish, he pulled to a stop in a parking space and turned the engine off. Pushing the door open dramatically, he got out of the car and trotted up the stairs to where he had seen Yuuri go just a few nights ago. Hoping desperately he had the right apartment, he poised his hand to knock right as the door opened and Victor was met with Yuuri’s face.

“Victor?!” Yuuri exclaimed, exiting his apartment quickly before closing the door, forcing Victor to take a step back to accommodate the smaller man. They were awfully close to each other, but Victor refused to move this time around. He was going to talk to Yuuri and if that meant they were brushing up against each other, then that was all the better. 

“Yuuri, would you like to get some coffee with me?” Victor asked, hoping he was coming off as more gentlemanly than he had in the past. Before, he had always asked Yuuri outright to go on a date with him. Coffee was the low standard for dates, it was where everyone usually started because it was casual and friendly and could be taken lightly. Victor was afraid of scaring Yuuri off, but he wasn’t about to let him go. 

“You sure are persistent.” Yuuri muttered, looking anywhere but at Victor, his face a light shade of pink. Victor didn’t care that Yuuri got flustered when they spoke. He knew, for a fact, that Yuuri had to grow into people. The more he spoke to Yuuri, the more relaxed he would become, and thus the more likely it would be for him to say yes to a date.

“When I’m after someone as amazing as you, I should be.” Victor said, not holding back how he felt. He could sense Yuuri’s nerves shooting through the roof after that comment, his already jittery nature becoming outright jumpy. Victor didn’t care, he wanted Yuuri to know how he felt.

“V-Victor, I c-can’t right now. I’m t-too busy to d-date.” Yuuri muttered, ducking his gaze away from Victor and dodging toward the stairs to head off to wherever he had been headed. Victor trotted down the stairs after him, trying hard to hold back from grabbing him and stopping him. There was no need for force. Yuuri was a gentle person and needed gentle handling.

“Then don’t think of it as a date.” Victor insisted, following after him as the smaller man headed in the opposite direction of where Victor had parked his car. The detective didn’t mind backtracking, though, as long as he got Yuuri to listen. “Can we at least be friends?” Victor asked, finally stopping, resigning to watch Yuuri go one more time before he would come back the next day and ask him out again.

Only, Yuuri stopped too.

The smaller man turned slowly, head toward the ground, bag over his shoulder which Victor hadn’t even noticed. He was dressed nicely, a button up white shirt and well ironed black slacks. His shiny black shoes had been buffed recently, from the looks of their shine, and his hair was slicked back neatly, not a hair loose. His wide eyes met Victor’s and the sight, once again, took Victor’s breath away. If it wasn’t for his face, Yuuri could have passed as Eros’ twin brother. However, the small Asian man had a wider face and larger expressions and didn’t seem capable of the seduction Eros was. Victor definitely wanted to be unbiased and look into it seriously, but Yuuri was just too innocent, there was no way. 

“Just friends?” Yuuri asked after a moment of staring at Victor. The detective nodded, finding words hard to come by with the way Yuuri was looking at him. Was he Eros? There was no way he was Eros. Still, he looked so much like him. What did Yuuri look like without his glasses on? With his eyes narrowed? No, it was rude to ask. Plus, Asians all tended to look similar to Victor anyway, he could easily be mistaken. 

“Fine, I’ll take you up on that coffee offer.” Yuuri finally relented and turned his body completely toward Victor as he accepted. The detective sighed with relief as he did so, glad that Yuuri was okay with taking one step closer to some kind of relationship. It was weird just thinking of Yuuri as his nephew’s ballet instructor. A friend was better than that, even if it wasn’t what he was going for. 

“Thank you. Um, I drove. My car’s just back there.” Victor said, pointing his thumb back behind him to where they had left Victor’s car. Yuuri nodded and approached Victor, who turned to walk side by side with the smaller man when they were next to each other. For a moment there was silence as Victor pointed out his car. Yuuri made a surprised face as he headed around to the passenger side.

“You own an actual car.” Yuuri commented, opening the door and slipping in with a soft puff of the seat beneath him. Victor nodded, refraining from scoffing. Yuuri hadn’t seen his car before and had ridden his motorcycle. Although, he had said car when telling Yuuri where it was.

“Yeah, my bike isn’t my go to vehicle. I only ever take it out at night.” Victor said, pulling his seat belt over himself before putting the key in the ignition and starting the car. Yuuri nodded for a second but the entire ride to the café Victor liked was in silence. 

When they pulled into the parking space, Yuuri leaned over to look out the windshield at the sign above the door. Victor smiled and slid out of his seat as Yuuri followed suit, heading toward the entrance. It was a dreary, cloudy day and it appeared to be threatening rain, but Victor felt like the sun was shining. 

“Do you come here often?” Yuuri asked as they entered, the barista at the front shouting a greeting to Victor across the moderately busy crowd. There was a small line and several people at the tables and booths around the room, but it wasn’t impossibly busy.

“Yep! Christophe introduced me to this place shortly after I started on the force.” Victor responded, stepping up into the line with Yuuri. He kept telling himself that they were friends and Yuuri was going to insist on paying for his own drink. Since they were here as friends, Victor was going to be fine with that. This played on repeat in his mind as he attempted to pay attention to the conversation as well. 

“Christophe? Who’s that?” Yuuri asked, stepping forward as the line shortened just a bit. Victor followed him and realized he hadn’t brought up Christophe. If Yuuri read the papers and knew Victor was a detective, he knew Christophe, didn’t he?

“He’s a journalist friend of mine. He writes most of the articles on the Eros case. He’s the only one with interviews from me.” Victor said, trying his best to detail out who Christophe was. His name was under the heading of nearly every front page article ever in the city’s most popular newspaper. Yuuri didn’t know who he was?

“Oh, I never noticed. I don’t really pay attention to who writes the articles.” Yuuri admitted, looking down bashfully as he said this. Victor felt like he would melt at Yuuri’s expression, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly more offended on Christophe’s behalf.

“Well, you should. The writers deserve enough recognition that you should at least know their names.” Victor pouted as the line drew ever shorter and they stepped up to the front. Yuuri apologized as Victor ordered his drink. The order was short and sweet, since his frequented café had already memorized what he liked in his coffee, even if the drink changed. 

As Yuuri ordered, Victor stood off to the side to wait for his drink and Yuuri so they could sit down. As the smaller man approached him they exchanged smiles and the conversation resumed.

“So, Christophe is the only one who gets the scoop on the Eros case?” Yuuri asked, lifting his eyebrows to add an emphasis to the way he asked the question. It was a nearly Eros-like action that Victor found himself floundering slightly before he could answer properly. 

“Y-yeah, Christophe is the only one I feel I can talk to freely about the case. There aren’t many people in the department willing to talk to me anymore since the case has been going on so long and I don’t have any new leads.” Victor responded, feeling his irritation toward the case begin to flare again. Eros was so evasive, why couldn’t he just stop for a moment? This Phichit was going to be ground breaking, he just needed to visit all five of them. Living in different parts of the city…. This was going to be a long day.

“The other day when I asked, you seemed to get really irritated.” Yuuri commented, earning a soft sigh from Victor as the man ran a finger through his hair. He grabbed his drink from where it had been placed for him and took a small sip, burning his tongue and lips in the process.

“It really does frustrate me. I want to catch Eros so bad. He’s so good at getting away I just feel like catching him would be the ultimate prize.” Victor said, feeling the physical attraction he felt toward Eros taking over this small speech. His words were far more passionate than he had intended and Yuuri’s curious look turned a little bit dark.

“If Eros is such a good catch, why do you want me?” Yuuri asked, reaching up to grab his drink as it was placed on the counter behind him. Any thought that Yuuri might be Eros was dashed from Victor’s mind at this very moment. If they were the same person, Yuuri wouldn’t get offended that Victor wanted him so badly as both people.

“Well, um, you’re…. You just struck me as-Yuuri you’re a wonderful person I-“ Victor spluttered and stuttered, throwing words and hand gestures about as he attempted to explain the feeling that overcame him when he was around the smaller man. This wasn’t very successful as Yuuri huffed and turned his head dramatically. 

“If you’d rather have Eros, then stop chasing me. I have to go to work. Goodbye.” Yuuri puffed, storming toward the door with as much subtlety as he could muster. This small tantrum didn’t draw very much attention except from those Victor pushed passed to get to Yuuri.

“Yuuri, wait! I didn’t mean it like that! Yuuri!” Victor barely managed to shove his way out the door in time to watch the smaller man turn a corner away from the café. Victor groaned loudly, running his fingers through his hair again. He could never have what he was after, even when he offered to start as friends with the one that was within reach. It was infuriating. Why was patience so hard?

With a huff, Victor turned toward his car and got in, flopping into his seat with a thump and slamming the door a bit too hard. Setting his drink down, Victor groaned loudly, rubbing his hands down his face as he did so. This was getting out of hand. He just needed to take a break. However, he also needed to find this Phichit and find his first lead on Eros. This was going to be a long day.

Then his phone began to ring.

Without bothering to look at it he answered, hoping desperately it wasn’t his boss calling or some unknown number. He didn’t feel like saying anything.

“Victor? You there? The dial tone stopped.” It was Christophe on the other end, sounding a bit out of sorts from the odd way Victor answered. Sitting up in his seat, he put the phone on speaker and stuck the key in the ignition.

“Yeah, I’m here. What’s up?” Victor asked, turning the key and starting the car with a gentle hum. The engine revved for a short while before it leveled off at a low rumble that was barely audible from the inside of the car. 

“Okay, good. I was just wondering how life was. I hadn’t heard anything from you since Friday and was starting to get concerned.” Christophe explained, the sounds of typing and clicking echoing faintly in the background. It sounded like he was at work, which was likely, since Christophe rarely seemed to stop working except to go on dates with his boyfriend. 

“Life’s been swell.” Victor muttered sarcastically as he backed out of his parking space and turned around toward the exit of the parking lot. Life was far from swell - even though he had a lead to follow, the closest thing to a relationship he had had just pushed its way out of the café and down the street. Probably to the train. 

“What happened?” Christophe asked, falling into dependable friend mode. It was a great mode for Christophe, since he dropped most of his sassy attitude and just listened. He played dependable boyfriend mode, too, Victor had seen that one in action many times and it was amazing to watch. If only he could change his modes so easily. 

“I joined Yuuri for free skate on Saturday night.” Victor started, earning a small gasp from Christophe on the other end. Victor simply rolled his eyes before continuing. “I didn’t tell him I was coming and it took him by surprise but Chris, we danced! We actually danced and it was magical.” Victor sighed, physically refraining from closing his eyes to swoon. He was still driving and he didn’t want to get in a wreck before getting to work. 

“Now who sounds twelve?” Christophe asked, laughing when he heard Victor loudly huff out a sigh, turning a corner and coming into view of the police station. Dependable friend mode was different from dependable boyfriend mode because Christophe didn’t turn off the teasing. 

“But when I drove him home-“ Victor ignored the very loud shout-whisper Christophe hissed into the phone at this statement, “he said no to a real date. Then, this morning I asked him out for coffee. The only reason he agreed was because I said we could go as friends.” Victor continued, hearing the low hiss from Christophe’s end of the line.

“Victor, maybe you should give up on this kid?” Christophe suggested as Victor pulled into a parking space and threw the car in park. With a sigh, he shook his head, momentarily forgetting Christophe wasn’t in the car with him. 

“No, I can’t especially after this morning. Eros came up, and you know how I get about Eros.” Victor said, listening to Christophe’s grunt of agreement as he released his seatbelt and leaned back in his seat. “Well, I offended him. He basically told me that if I wanted Eros so badly, then I should just stop chasing him.” Victor muttered, throwing his hands over his face again, feeling the utter defeat take over him once more.

“So you’re not giving up to prove you really want him and not Eros?” Christophe asked and, again, Victor nodded without realizing it. With a sigh he removed his hands.

“Yeah. I really have to find Eros now, Christophe, or I’ll never get to be more than a friend to Yuuri.” Victor responded, groaning loudly once again. His life just made him want to groan and go back to sleep. Why couldn’t anything work out properly? If he didn’t catch Eros, he lost his job. If he chased Eros too long, he lost Yuuri. At least his family and Christophe were stable parts of his life.

“Well, I wish you luck, my friend. I don’t see how this could go well.” Christophe chimed, trying his best to sound encouraging despite the discouraging words. Victor laughed, glad Christophe was trying something. Even if it was discouraging, it was still Christophe and Victor knew what he meant.

“Well, I have a lead on Eros anyway, so I should go follow it.” Victor commented, straightening up in his seat, determined to find this Phichit and solve the Eros case as quickly as he could manage. 

“Wait, you have a lead!? You didn’t tell me you had a lead!” Christophe exclaimed into the phone as Victor took it off of speaker and got out of the car, grabbing his coffee as an afterthought. He had almost forgotten it was there. He was going to need it.

“Oh, yeah, I have a lead. Sorry, Christophe, but I’m headed into work right now, I’ll talk to you later.” Victor said into the phone, refraining from laughing too much at the protests coming from Christophe’s end.

“Nikiforov, you better tell me what that lead is! Victor! Victor you-“ Then he hung up, laughing freely now that his friend wasn’t on the other end. No matter how much Christophe wanted to hear that lead, he wasn’t allowed to. Victor was only allowed to relay information already confirmed by the case. These Phichits could easily be unrelated and Eros was just using a nickname. Even then, Victor wouldn’t be allowed to relay much about what he got from the Phichits unless he got a full confession, which he knew wasn’t going to happen.

“Victor! Hey, another Eros letter came in.” Leo called once Victor entered the office, carrying a broad grin that was gone the instant Leo finished his sentence. He groaned as he placed his phone and coffee on his desk and flopped into his chair.

“What time?” Victor asked, holding out his hand for the Eros letter. They never got original copies until Victor had actually visited the location, since the letters always arrived the day Eros struck. So he wasn’t surprised when Leo handed him a printed piece of paper with the exact words the store owner had relayed into the phone. Probably to Leo himself, since Leo was half heartedly assigned to be Victor’s secretary when he wasn’t in. 

“Noon.” Leo responded as Victor skimmed the letter to find this answer. He still had plenty of time to visit one Phichit and make it to the location with time to spare. It was still frustrating that Eros struck at the most inconvenient of times. 

“Well, I guess I’ll have to visit a Phichit before I go.” Victor muttered, slipping the page into the ever growing Eros file folder. What had once been a small sliver of a folder was now at least two inches thick with Eros letters and attempts at finding him. Victor had made connection after connection to no avail and here he was, about to make progress. At least, he hoped it would.

“Which Phichit are you going to try first?” Leo asked as Victor logged onto his computer and pulled up the five Phichits once more. Leo posed a good question. Out of the five, there had to be one who would prove most useful. Victor looked through the details the database provided for all of them and paused on the third.

“This one.” Victor said, pointing to the image of a young man with dark skin and big eyes, his black hair seemingly shining in the light of whatever was illuminating the room the picture was taken in. He had a young face, not much older than twenty, close to Leo’s age, if not older.

“Why that one?” Leo asked, leaning over Victor’s shoulder to get a better look at the information as Victor input the address into his phone. 

“He’s the only one with prior computer experience, and, if he’s helping Eros get through security, he must have lots of computer experience.” Victor responded, earning a long ‘oh’ from Leo at this. It was always nice to blow away the minds of the intern, who was still working on making simple connections like this. 

“Well, then, good luck, Victor.” Leo said as Victor put his phone to sleep and stood back up, drinking the last of his coffee before tossing it into the garbage bin. He had barely been in the office before he had to leave again. It was exhausting, but it was what he loved about his job. Always on the move.

“Thanks, Leo.” As Victor left he waved to the young intern before jogging out to his car. It was already eight and the location was all the way across town. Victor would likely take half an hour to get there, taking into consideration late morning work traffic. It wasn’t as bad as the usual morning traffic, but it was pretty awful. 

As he jumped into his car he thought back to what Yuuri had said. His protests and stutters could have easily been fixed if he had only told Yuuri why he was so passionate about Eros. Sure, the man was sexy and Victor wanted to know who he was, but the main reason Victor chased him so much was because his job was on the line. 

Victor cursed under his breath at that, angry that he couldn’t think straight in unusual situations. Why was he so bad at love? Was this love? Victor wasn’t sure, just that he thought Yuuri was beautiful and nice and fun and that he enjoyed his company. If only he could act normal around the smaller man. If only he could keep his head on straight.

These were the thoughts that crossed Victor’s mind as he drove the half hour to Phichit Chulanont’s house. It was a rather boring drive with the occasional backup or long red light. It wasn’t anything Victor wasn’t already used to, so he tuned it out with the thoughts racing through his head, glad to finally reach the parking lot to the place his GPS had directed him toward.

He huffed as he parked, controlling the thoughts in his mind to think about the case and no Yuuri for once. He needed to focus if he was going to get anything good out of this Phichit. He was the only one clearly linked to computers with his college major having been in computers. He had temporarily worked for some computer company before quitting, though the database had never explained why. Still, one couldn’t just lose all knowledge of computers in a single day, or even a week. So, he was very likely their suspect, but Victor had to beat around this bush so as to not offend the man. 

Sighing, the silver haired detective finally exited his car, tucking his shirt so the wrinkles were near the folds at his belt. He wanted to come off as professional and not flustered beyond reason by the beautiful ballet instructor who just kept stabbing him in the heart. Professional, he repeated to himself as he ascended the stairs toward the apartment the database had given him.

With a gentle and formal knock on the door, Victor realized he should have called in ahead of time to make sure Mr. Chulanont didn’t get thrown off guard. Cursing under his breath for this, he was relieved when the door opened and the young man from the picture appeared before him. Victor was ready to state his name and his reason for being here when the young man’s face lit up and he spoke before Victor even had the chance.

“Victor Nikiforov! I didn’t think I’d ever see you at my door!” Phichit exclaimed, leaning lazily against the doorframe and looking Victor up and down as if sizing him up, but not for a fight. It was a look similar to the one Eros had given him when they first met, only this was far less seductive and more curious. 

“So you read the papers.” Victor muttered, not even bothering to form it as a question. Of course he read the papers. Everyone read the papers. The newspaper wasn’t as outdated as he had originally thought. Even if they didn’t read the physical paper, there was still the internet. Victor sighed, disappointed that this conversation had to start this way.

“No. Well, yes, I read the papers. But no, that’s not why I recognize you.” Phichit grinned, laughing good naturedly. He was being very friendly for a man who had to answer his door at nine in the morning. He was wearing some rather nice clothes, so Victor wondered if he had interrupted the guy’s morning preparations. 

“What?” Was all Victor could manage when Phichit stepped aside and gestured into his apartment.

“It’s chilly outside. Why don’t you come in?” Phichit offered, grinning with the most friendly expression Victor had ever seen. Who was this amazingly friendly person and how did he know Victor other than as the detective who couldn’t catch Eros? Stepping inside with only minimal hesitation, Victor had to admit Phichit was right, it was far colder outside and the apartment’s heating felt good. 

“Why don’t you take a seat? Want anything to drink?” Phichit offered, gesturing to where his coffee maker sat on the apartment’s island, brewing fresh coffee right there. Victor took a seat near the door on the small couch positioned there. Politely he held up a hand and shook his head.

“No thank you, I just had some.” Victor pulled out the polite side of him in time to respond, still taken aback by the way this man was acting. Despite the strange way he was greeted, Victor could still be a nice person. It was a part of his job.

“So, how do you know me if not for the papers?” Victor asked as Phichit poured himself a mug of the coffee, blowing gently on it before taking a sip. He took his coffee black? Victor watched incredulously as the young man took another sip of coffee, this one larger. He took it black and fresh!? Who was this person?

“You’re the man courting my best friend, Yuuri. He talks about you a lot.” Phichit responded, winking at Victor as he added on the last part. He knew Yuuri!? Victor felt himself choking on nothing as he opened his mouth to say something else, coughing lightly before continuing as if it had been nothing. 

“He talks about me?” Victor asked, suddenly forgetting the real reason he was there. Phichit was an expert at changing the subject and, unbeknownst to Victor, it was entirely on purpose. Phichit smiled brightly and joined Victor by sitting in a chair just across from him.

“Oh yeah, the pushy detective that comes to pick up his nephew every once in a while. It’s really funny, actually.” Phichit laughed and Victor felt himself turning a light shade of pink. He figured he had been a little too forceful on Yuuri, but hearing Yuuri’s side relayed from a friend made him realize how bad he really was. 

“I apologize if I’ve gone too far.” Victor said, avoiding looking up at Phichit. His face finally leveled with the dark skinned man when he laughed loudly, waving a hand as if brushing Victor off. 

“No, no! It’s fine. Yuuri needs a push! He hasn’t dated in years! I should know, I was his last boyfriend.” At this Phichit laughed even louder, as if it was hilarious that he was Yuuri’s ex. Victor nearly choked on nothing once more, glad he had already had his coffee and wasn’t taking periodic sips of Phichit’s. He would actually be choking if that were the case. 

“Y-you’re his ex? And y-you’re friends?” Victor stuttered, surprised that Phichit was not only willing to admit it, but laughing about it. Victor’s exes, the few that existed, refused to speak to him after they broke up. Phichit was far lighter and bubblier than Victor could ever be, this was probably why they were still friends.

“Yep! Yuuri and I have been good friends since high school. We dated for a little while after graduation, but when it wasn’t what we thought it would be, we decided to drop it. We like being friends much better.” Phichit responded, giving Victor a small smile and then a wink, as if hinting at what Victor was supposed to do next. Entering the house of this man had not been what Victor had expected. He had just entered a whirlwind of joy and it was intoxicating. 

“I’ve never heard of that before.” Victor commented, grinning at the idea. It was a little weird, sure, but it wasn’t bad. Victor had always believed that the sign you had a healthy relationship was, if you broke up, you remained friends. Victor’s relationships had never been unhealthy, but they had always ended in yelling and screaming and that was why Victor had been off dating for so long. He hated anger when he loved someone. 

“Yeah, well, Yuuri and I are more than happy with it. We like being friends, and we don’t want what we tried to ruin that.” Phichit responded, still smiling, his genuine joy fading slightly to pure nostalgia, the lines traced in the dimples on his face. It was amazing, that Phichit and Yuuri had been that close. Victor was more than happy to have met Phichit. 

Then he remembered why he was there.

Checking the time he realized they had just spent half an hour in a whirlwind conversation that had wasted precious time. It was now nine-thirty and Victor needed to head out by eleven-thirty if he wanted to make it to the Eros location on time. 

“I wasn’t actually here to discuss Yuuri, actually. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions.” Victor chimed in, changing the subject back to what he had meant to say when Phichit had first opened the door. The smaller man tilted his head in interested confusion before standing and glancing at the time.

“You’ll have to make it quick detective. I have work at eleven-thirty and need to be out of here in half an hour if I’m going to make it on time.” Phichit responded, smiling politely as he rinsed the mug in the sink and placed it in the partly empty dishwasher nearby.

“Of course. I was just wondering what you know about the Phantom Thief, Eros.” Victor asked, pulling out a small notepad and pen to get started on jotting down notes. Phichit made a show of swinging his hips so he was putting his weight onto one leg, folding his arms and then tapping his chin to look thoughtful. 

“Well, a lot of it comes from the papers. He steals precious jewels but then returns them the next day. How you can’t quite seem to catch him.” Phichit gave a little chuckle at this and Victor groaned, giving Phichit a look that asked him to not bring that up. “Sorry, sorry. Um, well, I do know-“ But the man was cut off when Victor’s phone started to go off.

“Sorry, one second.” Victor muttered, frustrated that he was finally questioning a physical lead and suddenly Irina was calling him. He clicked his tongue in frustration before swiping up to send her a pre-written text that said ‘I’m at work’ to let her know he was busy.

“As you were saying.” Victor said when the ringing had stopped and he was finally able to focus on what Phichit was saying. The darker skinned man opened his mouth to continue when Victor’s phone began going off again, this time earning a rather loud groan from the detective.

“Take it, detective, we can always do this another time.” Phichit commented, waving his hand toward the detective before disappearing down the hallway to the left of the kitchen. Victor groaned loudly, frustrated that he had missed his lead. Sure, they could do it another day, but Victor had wanted to do it now. 

“Irina, darling, I love you but this is not a good time.” Victor muttered into the phone, answering it without a second thought. There was frantic puffing on the other end before Irina finally spoke.

“I’m so sorry Vitya, but I need you to pick up Yuri today. It’s a real emergency and I’m afraid I won’t be able to call you later.” Irina explained, her voice sounding very upset and out of breath. Victor didn’t ask for her reason, but he was definitely going to ask later.

“Of course, Irina. You know I could never say no to you.” Victor responded, letting out a sigh, his anger leaving him with the single action. He could never say no to his sister, especially when it meant seeing his nephew again so soon. This was not a problem, he had time. He kept telling himself this as Irina thanked him and hung up. The words raced through his head again as Phichit reappeared from the hallway wearing a jacket, his hair slicked back, and a bag over one shoulder. He looked a lot like Yuuri had earlier that same morning.

“I need to head to work. Sorry if I couldn’t help you today, detective, but I’d be more than willing to help another time.” Phichit commented as Victor stood from the couch he had been sitting on. Victor shook his head and waved a hand.

“It’s alright.” Victor muttered, running his fingers through his hair with a defeated sigh. One day couldn’t be enough to get Yakov on his case. One more day and then he could give Yakov something to read. Something far more interesting than a ‘I don’t have anything’. 

“My train leaves in a few minutes, I need to hurry to catch it.” Phichit said as Victor lead himself out the door and stopped on the landing. It seemed both Phichit and Yuuri took the train instead of owning cars. It was smart, especially considering the trains were much more reliable. Anyone could be late to work if they drove. 

“Would you like me to take you? I have plenty of time.” Victor offered, gesturing to where he had parked his car not far away. 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to burden you.” Phichit said as they started down the stairs. Victor shrugged, Phichit catching this gesture from behind. 

“Yeah, it’s nothing.” Though, he knew he would have to be fast if he was going to get to the jewelry shop Eros was hitting. It struck Victor right then, as Phichit told him where he worked, that Phichit couldn’t be the Phichit Eros had been talking to. If this was him, then he wouldn’t be starting work half an hour before the job. Victor cursed under his breath as he unlocked his car, frustrated that this lead hadn’t worked out. He still had four other Phichits in the city, but the likelihood of them being the right one were slim. Phichit must have been a nickname.

They drove in silence most of the way to Phichit’s work and Victor realized it was very close to where the next job was going to take place. If it wasn’t for the fact that Phichit was headed to work, Victor would think that this was very convenient. Stupid alibis. 

“Does Yuuri have another job besides ballet instructor?” Victor asked absently, turning a corner where Phichit said to. Phichit nodded for a second before verbally responding.

“Yeah, his parents own a hotel in the city, so he works for them during the day and sometimes late into the night after his ballet class ends.” Phichit responded as they turned another corner and he pointed out the location he was headed. Victor pulled up in front of it to let Phichit out.

“Thanks for giving me a ride. I promise, I’ll be more useful next time. I’m off work tomorrow, so you can stop by whenever you want.” Phichit said before he shut the door and disappeared into the bar Victor had dropped him off in front of. If it wasn’t also a grill, Victor would have questioned his need to work so early in the day. Still, it struck Victor as a late night restaurant, so why was it open at this time?

With a sigh, he dropped his question without a second thought. They probably serve breakfast, he thought to himself, putting his car back into drive and heading toward the jewelry shop where Eros was said to be striking next. 

Pulling to a stop outside the location, Victor sighed, preparing himself for what was about to happen. Eros would trap him, take the jewel, and then Victor would have to ask the store owner to unlock him. For whatever reason, all jewelry store owners were cowards who tried to leave everything to Victor. If everyone read the stupid papers, why didn’t they get bodyguards or something to help Victor out? Eros couldn’t take on more than one person. Yet, every time, Victor was handling Eros on his own.

With a sigh, he pushed open his door and entered the shop. The store owner was busy looking over some gems when Victor stepped inside. The small, thick man looked up right as the small bell above the door rang.

“Oh, good. You’re here. I was worried you wouldn’t show.” The man fretted over the small gems in the case he was looking over. They didn’t seem particularly valuable, though the large green emerald to Victor’s right was definitely something to go after.

“Eros is a serious threat, sir, we would never leave you unprotected.” Victor responded, a fake smile plastered on his face. The man seemed to visibly relax a this and Victor was glad his fake smile came off as believable. He didn’t want to disappoint this man too early on. Because disappointment was coming. 

Before the man had a chance to say anything else, the lights in the shop went out entirely. With a sigh, Victor turned toward the door right as the bell jingled and, right where he expected him to be, stood Eros. The guy had gotten really cocky and had started entering through the front door. The fancy entrances were usually from windows or a hole in the ceiling, but Eros’ entering through the door showed how much power he truly held over Victor.

“Detective, nice to see you, as always.” Eros cooed, swishing his way toward Victor with a coy smile. As soon as he began to move, Victor’s frustration at Yuuri and the case disappeared. This man was beyond beautiful with his glorious hips and his perfect figure. His cape billowed behind him with a flourish as he turned about the shop, taking notice of the emerald in the case beside Victor. 

“Eros, is this game finally going to end?” Victor finally managed to get out, drawing Eros’ attention back up to Victor, their eyes locking. The beautiful, amber eyes locked with stunning blue and, for just a moment, nothing seemed to move. Then Eros turned toward the emerald and lifted the glass as if it was nothing.

“Not today, detective.” Eros responded, putting the glass down carefully before grabbing the emerald and cradling it in both hands. Victor, taken slightly by surprise – he just kept getting bolder – whipped his hand forward, cuffing Eros with a flourish.

“Not so fast.” Victor snapped, grinning when the cuffs linked onto Eros’ wrist with ease. The smaller man looked down at the cuffs and raised an eyebrow before looking up at Victor with that wicked smile.

“Naughty, naughty, detective. I think you have a problem.” Eros cooed, leaning in closer to Victor until they were literally an inch from touching noses. Victor almost couldn’t breathe, afraid Eros would smell the coffee on his breath and become disgusted. Okay, so maybe Yuuri was a bit right, Eros was too sexy to pass up. 

“Y-you’re my only problem.” Victor stuttered, coughing lightly to cover the way his voice cracked when Eros pulled back, gem still in hand, cuffs no longer attached. Once more, Victor looked down to his own wrist to find the very cuffs that had been on Eros’ wrist now on his own. How he did it, Victor still had absolutely no idea.

“Sorry, detective. I’m in a bit of a rush today.” Eros pouted before he blew a kiss toward Victor and disappeared out a window. With a groan, Victor took the key from his own pocket and unlocked himself. He was glad, for once, that he didn’t have to ask the store owner to get it for him. Eros’ hurry had taken him off guard and he hadn’t had time to think straight long enough to grab the key.

“He has my emerald! Detective, how could you let him take my emerald!” The man who had been cowering behind a display case showed up suddenly behind Victor and the detective sighed, his tired nature and annoyance with this case reigniting. 

“Sir, I will get your gem back, I promise.” Victor said, pulling out his phone to call into the office. He ignored the angry pouts of the man behind him and trekked to his car, glad to be away from the annoying shop owner long enough to breathe. Then he called his own desk number.

“Victor Nikiforov’s desk, how may I help you?” Leo answered without any hesitation, the job having become normal. It was also very normal for Victor to call his own desk just to get into contact with Leo, who rarely had his phone on him when it was fully charged.

“Leo, I’m heading back. No success with the first Phichit, I think I’ll just call the rest.” Victor sighed into the phone, Leo taking little time to register who it was he was speaking to. Just by the sound of his voice, the young intern became concerned.

“Are you alright, Victor?” He asked and the silver haired detective sighed. Was he? Not really. Yuuri was mad at him, Phichit wasn’t the right man, and Eros had managed to get away again, taking yet another gem with him.

“No, Leo, no I’m not.” Victor muttered before hanging up the phone. When was this ever going to end?

\----

It was late afternoon when Victor finally got off work to pick up Yuri. Despite the light hearted buzz at the office, the lack of sun in the day had dampened Victor’s mood and he had been moping since the morning. Each step made him more and more tired. How he longed for his bed and the blankets to hug him tight.

When he arrived at Love Ballet it was just letting out. For once he wasn’t late to arrive and entered the room at maximum busyness. There were boys and girls everywhere, most of which were around Yuri’s age or older. It was kind of nice seeing a regular day play out. But Victor was still tired.

“Ugh, why are you here?” Yuri asked, tucking his shoes into his bag as he spotted Victor. The small teen was full of energy, as always, but Victor just felt himself melting. Like a balloon that’s air was being let out slowly. 

“Your mother called and asked me to pick you up again.” Victor muttered in response, earning a wary look from Yuri out of confusion. The room emptied slowly, Yuri taking his time packing his things away. After several minutes, Yuuri appeared from the back room and spotted Victor, making his way toward the taller man with a smile on his face.

“I apologize for this morning, Victor. I was a bit rude.” Yuuri said as Victor turned his tired blue eyes to Yuuri’s bright amber. They were so much like Eros’, but they couldn’t be the same eyes. Yuuri had been working all morning. 

“No, Yuuri. It’s my fault. It was rude of me to bring up Eros like that.” Victor said, running his fingers through his hair, inflated slightly by Yuuri’s apology. Still, he was tired and it was evident in his voice. Yuuri noticed easily. 

“Are you alright, detective?” Yuuri asked, tilting his head slightly like a curious puppy dog. It was cute, the way he did that. Still, Victor didn’t feel much better. He shrugged as Yuri nudged him, trying to gather his attention so they could leave.

“I’m just a little stuck.” Victor responded with a small smile, trying his best to reassure Yuuri that he was fine. Yuuri didn’t seem to believe this as he huffed and his eyebrows creased in a cute, frustrated manner.

“I’ll go on one date with you.” Yuuri finally said, looking Victor right in the eyes with a determined look. For a second Victor didn’t get what he had said but realization slowly dawned on him and Victor’s ‘doom it all’ attitude suddenly perked up dramatically. His bright blue eyes lit up with joy and his fake smile turned to a genuine grin, his whole body almost visibly inflating.

“You will?” Victor asked, his voice incredulous, surprised that Yuuri would so willingly go on a date with him. When Yuuri nodded, Victor grinned and laughed and ran his fingers nervously through his hair, buzzing with a new energy.

“Well, um, we should exchange numbers so we can talk about it.” Victor said, pulling out his phone and opening the new contacts screen. Yuuri did the same and they exchanged numbers. It took all of Yuri’s dragging to get Victor out of there. The ride home was filled with Victor’s giddy buzz and Yuri’s insistence that this was disgusting.

When Victor dropped Yuri off he smiled at his nephew with the biggest grin he felt he had made for months. Yuri rolled his eyes, brows creasing angrily, but a small smile gave away how endearing Victor’s attitude was.

It wasn’t until Victor got home that he felt something in his jacket pocket.

It wasn’t his phone: that was in his hands. Reaching down he pulled out whatever it was that had been bumping against his leg. In his hand was a rather large package with a stamp and ‘Victor Nikiforov’ written neatly across the front of it.

Victor cursed under his breath, Eros’ slippery fingers had done it again. There was no way Victor would know who had dropped the gem in his pocket, he had passed too many people since confronting Eros earlier that morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The real fun begins!


	5. It's JJ Style!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Competition arrives!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long! I had to pack for school and then actually go to school and, well, I finally got something out even though I was angry while writing it. But I'm told it's fine, so, enjoy!

It had been four weeks. Almost a month. Victor sat at his desk typing absently on his computer, scanning through files and old cases, looking for hints and clues. Life had leveled out and started going steady after that day. Yuuri had finally agreed to a date, Irina was less and less busy, and Christophe was working on a new string of stories that had just cropped up. 

And Eros had disappeared.

Victor was surprised at first, when a whole week had passed and he hadn’t seen any sign of the thief. What was he doing? Had he left the city? Had he run out of jewelers? Victor didn’t know the answer to the question, but as time dragged on, he started to care less and less. Eros was gone, he was no longer striking fear in the hearts of the town’s jewelers – even though he never stole anything – and Victor had been allowed to solve a few normal cases for once. It was relaxing, to say the least.

Sure, occasionally Yakov hovered over his shoulder and insisted he wrap up the case, figure out who Eros had been and call it closed, but Victor wasn’t sure if that was necessary. All Eros had done was cause a little bit of a disturbance and boost Christophe’s readership. Nothing had ever remained stolen and Eros had never broken anything. Some of the shop owners wanted to press charges anyway, but Victor walked around the subject when it came up. No one else seemed to mind Eros’ disappearance.

Eventually Victor was too distracted to really think about Eros much. He was going on more dates with Yuuri, his dream finally coming true, and spending time with Christophe and Leo, who both proved rather enjoyable on group dates. Occasionally Irina asked him to pick up Yuri, but it became less frequent, much to Yuri’s approval. Victor and Yuuri still flirted when Victor picked Yuri up, but it wasn’t as common as it had been a few weeks previous.

The first date with Yuuri had gone splendidly. They had gone out for dinner at a family restaurant, somewhere Yuuri felt comfortable. Victor didn’t want to press romance too quickly, afraid he would scare Yuuri away again. Instead, he wanted to have some fun. After the meal, they had gone out to a roller skating rink to try out their skills on wheels. It proved an entirely different concept to ice skating and they had taken many a tumble before getting the hang of it. Ever since, they had been on two more dates and Yuuri had seemed to be warming up to him.

Which led to Victor’s current situation. 

The office was fairly quiet as the night drew on and the criminals came out to play. Leo was working on sorting paperwork at his desk beside Victor and the silver haired detective was sorting through the new cases he had worked on recently, trying to organize the files on his computer so they were easier to find. 

The phone on his desk began ringing so suddenly, Leo jumped at the sound, turning his gaze toward it so quickly Victor was sure he would get whiplash. Scooping the desk phone off of its holder with a flourish, Victor answered.

“Detective Nikiforov.” He said seriously, staring off toward the windows that gazed over the dying sunlight and the cityscape. They weren’t terribly high up, but they could still see around buildings and over their roofs. 

“Hey, Victor, it’s Maddy. We just got a call about a break in downtown.” The phone operator spoke with a naturally smooth voice, one Victor recognized immediately. Maddy was the phone operator tasked with giving her calls to Victor if he was in. He had grown familiar with her voice and they had long since dropped the formalities.

“I’ll go check it out. What’s the address?” Victor asked, writing down what Maddy said before thanking her and hanging up. Victor stood with a sigh, stretching as he did so, his joints cracking from having been on a chair all day.

“New case?” Leo asked, curious as always. He was a bit impatient to be an official officer, but Victor knew Leo could hold out. 

“Yeah, another jewel thief, apparently.” Victor responded, grabbing his things off his desk to strap them to his belt. With on final wave at Leo he grabbed his jacket and headed out toward his car. The sun was almost entirely set behind the horizon as he drove toward the address Maddy had given him. It was completely gone by the time he pulled to a stop near the police perimeter that had already been set up by officers that had been in the area. 

As soon as he stepped out of his car there were people looking his way. Victor was notorious for not being very good at solving theft cases, though Eros was really the only one he had been tasked with. Still, when Detective Nikiforov arrived, people were bound to notice.

“Detective, glad you could make it. We’ve documented everything at this point, we just wanted another eye on the scene.” The man greeted him at the police tape as Victor let himself in, lifting it over his head to enter. The scene before him was nothing like the Eros cases. The jewelry shop was lit completely and the jeweler was out front talking with another cop. The large front window was smashed completely to pieces, sharp pieces jutting out from the edges of the frame. 

The strangest thing, however, was that the glass wasn’t strewn across the ground. Most of it was neatly swept up against the building with a few remaining shards arranged neatly on the sidewalk. Victor creased his brow and made his way right up to the glass.

“This is a calling card of his.” The officer who had greeted him explained. “He took the biggest gem, sir. We’re pretty sure he’s not going to give it back, though.” This was all said as Victor looked down at the distinct shape the glass shards took on the ground. If this was a calling card, it wasn’t hiding anything. 

Clear as day the glass spelled out: J.J.

\----

“How much of this are you actually allowed to tell me?” Yuuri asked, legs crossed, hands idly resting in his lap as he watched Victor pace the small apartment. Victor had just told Yuuri about the JJ break in earlier that day and now he was thinking over how he could go about solving it. 

It was date night but after the day Victor had had, he asked Yuuri if they could just order in and stay at his apartment. Being the awesome person he was, Yuuri agreed without asking why. However, Victor was a big mouth and was more than willing to tell Yuuri everything. Which led the question he had just asked.

“It’s fine. The press got there before I did, anyway. Christophe’s already writing the story for the papers tomorrow.” Victor responded, waving a hand halfheartedly toward Yuuri as he said this. The Asian man nodded in understanding, taking a sip of the soda he had set down on Victor’s counter. He sat on a bar stool at Victor’s island, watching the tall, Russian man pace. Victor talked a lot about his work, but mostly things that Yuuri already knew. This was the first time Victor had asked Yuuri to come over so he could rant about something new. 

“So, now you just have to solve it?” Yuuri asked, placing the cup back on the counter and watching as Victor turned one more time before coming to a stop before Yuuri. He ran his nimble fingers through silver hair and then threw his hands about himself, speaking with them.

“It’s not that simple, Yuuri. The only reason I got close to Eros was because he called in ahead of time. This JJ guy just struck without warning. If he does this again, there’s no way I could get there in time to see his face.” Victor explained, his explanation emphasized by the hand gestures he worked in. Yuuri nodded in understanding, not actually understanding but giving Victor the encouragement to move on. 

“I have nothing to work with but the testimony of the owner and the initials JJ.” Victor groaned, throwing his head back and rubbing his hands down his face as he said this. Yuuri nodded again, taking another sip from his cup. 

“Then don’t rush it. Look through everything carefully, I’m sure something will come up.” Yuuri responded, hoping he was being of some help. After having known Victor for a month he had gotten far more comfortable around him. The detective was more like a child than Yuuri had initially assumed, so he wasn’t actually that hard to handle. Working with kids was what Yuuri did for a living. Well, for the most part at least.

Working with smaller kids in the ballet studio and then any kids that parents brought to the hotel with them. Yuuri had mastered the art of the little child. Only, Victor was still an adult, so the techniques that worked without fail on kids would occasionally flop on Victor.

“Yuuri!” Victor whined, lifting his head back up and meeting amber eyes with striking blue. Their color almost always took Yuuri by surprise. “I never solved the Eros case and it went on for three months! Yakov will have my head if this case takes too long to solve.” Victor whined, his lower lip sticking out to form a small pout. 

“I don’t know what to tell you then.” Yuuri responded, shrugging as Victor threw his head back one more time in a very dramatic show of exasperation. If he couldn’t solve this JJ case, Yakov would kill him. If it took another three months to solve, Yakov would surely fire him. Victor had no backup plan and this job was his life.

For the next week this was all Victor could think about. He started with what Yuuri had suggested, looking over the clues and details as carefully as he could manage with Yakov hanging over him. He talked to the owner again to get the description one more time, he searched for citizens with the initials JJ. Nothing seemed to be bringing up any good leads and Victor continued to hit dead end after dead end.

After reaching square one yet again, Victor trudged into the office with a cup of coffee and a bend in his back. Leo looked concerned from where he sat, but most officers and detectives had stopped asking him if he was okay. Victor could get rather annoying when he was upset. 

“No luck?” Leo asked, shifting in his seat slightly as Victor dropped the cup onto his own desk with a dramatic flourish. Victor groaned as he sat down, flopping backward into his chair without responding to Leo. The groan was enough of a response for Leo to know that the lead Victor had assumed he had found was not a lead at all. 

“Well, maybe you can try-“ Leo was cut off abruptly when Victor’s phone began to ring. For a second it looked as if the detective wasn’t going to answer it, but before Leo could do it for him, a lazy hand swung out and picked it up.

“Detective Nikiforov.” Victor mumbled into the phone, leaning his head backward as he slid deeper into his chair.

“Victor, there’s been a robbery downtown.” Maddy’s voice spoke up on the other end, perking Victor’s interest just a little bit. Another robbery? It could be JJ, but there was no telling since he didn’t leave a calling card prior to a robbery. JJ struck and then ran, which was what made him so hard to catch. 

“Where at?” He mumbled back, sounding just a little more interested. It was likely that it wasn’t JJ, but it was also possible that it was. Victor didn’t want to get too excited before he arrived at the scene. 

Maddy gave him the address and he wrote it down quickly before grabbing his coat and the coffee and heading toward his car. The robbery had already occurred; there was no way he was going to get any new leads if it was JJ. Victor repeated this to himself over and over again as he drove toward the address and pulled up to the police line where officers in the area had already roped it off.

“Victor, good to see you here.” A voice called from the line, lifting the yellow tape for him to pass underneath. The scene was clean this time. The window was completely intact and the ground was free of glass. 

“Good to see you too. What do we have?” Victor asked, approaching the open door to the jeweler. There were only a couple of officers hanging around. The two in the shop were taking pictures of a smashed display case and a missing jewel. The store owner watched them with a wary eye, turning only when he noticed Victor and the other officer enter.

“So far, just a missing jewel.” The officer responded, gesturing over toward the broken display case where the officers were snapping pictures. The two had slowly stopped moving around and were just standing there, discussing something as they overlooked the scene. 

“Any calling cards?” Victor asked, hoping desperately there was something there to indicate who had done it. It definitely wasn’t Eros, he would have written a letter ahead of time. JJ’s calling card had been his name in the glass, but the only glass was shattered on the ground of the shop. 

“There’s a small card tucked into the stand where the jewel was displayed. All it said was JJ.” The officer responded and Victor felt his energy spike dramatically. So it had been JJ! Did he not have a specific calling card? Victor had thought it would be the initials in the glass, but apparently not. 

“Any other clues?” Victor asked, knowing the officer had already answered this question, rephrasing it wasn’t going to get him any better answers. The officer opened his mouth to continue when the lights began to flicker dramatically, dying out after a few flashes. 

The store owner immediately ducked behind the counter while the officers in the room pulled out their guns. Quite suddenly the speakers began to play some famous pop song Victor recognized vaguely from the radio. It blasted the speakers to the point that they vibrated, the entire shop vibrating gently along with them. The bass was turned up far too high and Victor felt like covering his ears so he wouldn’t go deaf. 

“Well, well, well.” The sound of a new voice startled everyone in the shop and they turned immediately toward the door, where a figure could be seen silhouetted against the sinking sun. The music turned down so that it was barely loud enough to make out the words. The officers with their guns drawn directed them toward the door, watching as the figure headed toward them. 

“The famous Detective Nikiforov is on my case? I’m flattered, really.” The voice was male, Victor noted, but playfully and teasing. It was as if the man was attempting to imitate Eros but wasn’t doing a very good job at it. As he approached, his face became clearer and Victor was able to make out a man that was, by definition, attractive. 

He had dark skin and a chiseled jaw, the shape defined by the way he tilted his head so that the sharp, square edges could be seen head on. His black hair was styled in an undercut, the top allowed to grow out longer than the bottom so it fell into his eyes. His eyes were a blue color, faded and kind of grayish, but framed by the thick eyebrows that rose into an attempt at a seductive expression. 

“You’re JJ, then?” Victor asked, silently willing the officer with the camera to come to their senses and take a picture. JJ wasn’t moving very quickly, and he appeared to be focused on Victor. If they could just get a picture, finding this guy would be so easy. 

“Of course! Who else would I be?” JJ threw his arms out to his sides for added dramatic effect, showing off the purple costume with its purple cape, pink accents thrown around it with golden trim. It was a costume worthy of a showman, and that was exactly what JJ was. Eros’s style was subtle, yet attractive, but this JJ guy was trying too hard to come off as sexy.

It wasn’t working.

“Then you are under arrest for stealing priceless gems” Victor said, taking a step forward in attempts to intimidate JJ. When the man didn’t move, Victor finished approaching him, standing barely a few inches away, nearly nose in nose with the man. JJ wasn’t that much shorter than him, almost exactly the same height, yet another significant difference between him and Eros.

“I believe I am free to go, actually.” JJ finally said, taking a step back as Victor moved to grab his arm and spin him around. He was swift, faster than Victor expected him to be. Victor shot out another hand but was sidestepped again as JJ spun around with a swish of his cape. 

“You stole expensive items that must be returned or you’ll be fined and you can’t pay that kind of money.” Victor responded, halting where he was near the door, JJ standing just within its frame, sly grin on his lips. He was trying to flirt, but it wasn’t nearly as captivating as Eros.

“Oh, I can pay for it. I just don’t want to.” JJ said, shrugging noncommittally before stepping backward again. “I’m not like that coward, Eros. I’m far better, in fact.” JJ boasted, pushing his chest out like a bird showing off for a potential mate. Victor sneered, glaring daggers straight at JJ as the faint sounds of a camera clicking came from behind him. Sweet, the officer had figured it out.

“No one is better than Eros.” Victor hissed, knowing full well that JJ would be caught within a couple of weeks while Eros had taken months and still remained a mystery. JJ chuckled loudly, turning toward the camera and giving it a charming grin before turning back to Victor.

“You can’t touch me.” He cooed, smirking annoyingly before stepping backward one more time, Victor and all the other officers following him, the camera still clicking. “Now, I must be off!” JJ waved with a single hand before crossing his arms in front of himself in an odd hand gesture shouting, “it’s JJ style!” and ducking out the door.

Victor felt immediately lost. After the first run in with Eros, Victor had come out in a daze, a sort of drunken stupor he kind of wanted to be in again. With JJ, Victor felt more confused than ever, and frankly, quite annoyed. With a swift turn on his heels he rushed to the officer with the camera, not saying a word as he took it from them.

He immediately began to flip through the images, grinning broadly as he reached the JJ pictures, each one clearer than the last, the details on his face good enough for a photo shoot.

“We’ve got him.” Victor exclaimed, grinning broadly at the two officers who returned the expression.

\----

“We don’t got him.” Leo said, tossing Victor a newspaper with a big, bold article about some man named Jean-Jacques Leroy. After the run in with JJ the previous night, Victor had immediately run the facial recognition software and declared that they arrest the man with the perfect match.

Over night the story had printed in all the papers that the millionaire, who most famously went by the nickname JJ, had been accused of being a jewel thief. When interviewed, the man had insisted it wasn’t him, and probably his twin brother pretending to be him. 

“What? We haven’t even had a trial!” Victor exclaimed, picking the paper up off the desk to look at the image of Jean-Jacques being interviewed printed beside the best image of JJ from the night before. The interviewer had printed word for word what the millionaire had said and the court had ruled decided there needed to be further evidence before they would take the case.

“Apparently they don’t think we can have one.” Leo commented, flopping down into his seat with a dramatic thump as Victor skimmed through the article. Halfway down the page, there was a small thumbnail image of Jean-Jacques’ brother, who looked just like him but without the undercut. 

“C’mon! What more evidence do you need than the picture we took?!” Victor exclaimed, his exasperation spilling through his tone without filter. There was no way this guy had managed to get away with this! They had gotten an image that was clear as day, JJ was the millionaire. 

“They said the lighting looks Photoshopped.” Leo responded, rubbing his hands over his face with his own mood of exasperation hanging in the air. Victor gaped at the image they had taken, the clear, seamless photography looking very much real. How had they ruled it Photoshop? There was no way this could be taken as Photoshop!

“You have got to be kidding me!” Victor cried, throwing the newspaper down on his desk with dramatic flair fitting of the detective. Leo responded with something Victor didn’t catch as the detective considered what else they could do to get the press and the court to believe them. Every plan he thought up got shot down by his own mind. JJ could always buy the court out. 

“Stupid, corrupt government.” Victor muttered under his breath, sliding his phone out of his pocket to text Yuuri, right as the device began to vibrate violently. It was Irina. It had been a while since Victor had gotten a call from her, so he answered with little hesitation.

“Irina, darling, I’m glad you called. I need to hear something that makes sense.” Victor whined, spinning his chair slightly to face toward the wall of windows across the room. The mid morning light leaked in without obstruction, spilling over the detectives and officers sitting at their desks. It was a rare day of sun in the middle of a cruel winter. It relaxed Victor just a bit.

“Are you alright, Vitya?” Irina asked, sounding calm and collected unlike most calls Victor got from her. It was odd, but it wasn’t something Victor was going to worry himself with. 

“Did you read the paper this morning?” Victor asked, spinning himself in a slow circle. The motion felt soothing and made him calmer, something he was going to need as he proceeded with solving the case.

“No, I haven’t had the chance to.” Irina responded, her voice getting distant for a second, the sounds of shuffling paper coming from the background. Victor groaned with exasperation, reveling in the small chuckle his sister gave as response.

“Well, you should. It will explain everything.” Victor responded, hating that he was actually recommending that stupid article to his sister. Victor was just really glad that the paper hadn’t been Christophe’s. Granted, the paper Christophe worked for had still published the story, they just had a slight bias toward the police department. It was subtle, but at least it wasn’t as obvious as the interviewers bias toward JJ in the other paper. 

“Alright, I’ll get on that. Hey, can you pick up Yuri today?” Irina asked as Victor stopped his spinning and faced the computer where he had tossed the newspaper. The heading glared at him, mocking him, making him feel like yelling and screaming and a little like going to sleep and never waking up.

“Of course I can, Irina! Any excuse to see my favorite nephew!” Victor cooed, grinning as he responded, glad for even the smallest distraction. He hadn’t see Yuuri for a while, though he was still a little bitter that the man hadn’t been any help when the JJ case had first come up. Still, seeing the attractive ballet instructor was sure to ease his mind.

“Thanks, Vitya. I’ll talk to you later.” The two said quick goodbyes before hanging up and Victor let out a long sigh. His life was getting more and more complicated by the minute. Solving this case with JJ wasn’t going to be easy. Standing up from his desk he grabbed his jacket. There was still time before he would have to pick up Yuri, but work was stressing him out too much. He needed to step out.

For an hour straight he drove around town just enjoying the sights, taking in the sounds, but shutting out the smells. Despite the wonder of the city and the amazing restaurants, the smells weren’t always pleasant. 

After clearing his head, Victor made his way toward the ballet studio, finding the students getting out as he pulled into a parking space. He pushed lightly through the small group of kids filtering out the door to find Yuri where he usually was, stuffing the rest of his gear into his bag before turning toward the door. The instant he saw Victor he made a disgusted face. 

“Give me the keys.” Yuri demanded, slinging his bag over one shoulder and holding out a hand for Victor’s keys. The silver haired man made a confused face in his nephew’s direction before stuffing his hand in his pocket.

“Don’t drive away.” Victor shot back, dropping the keys into Yuri’s hand in time to watch the thin blonde roll his eyes. It had always baffled Victor that he had so much attitude.

“I’m fifteen, stupid.” Yuri called behind himself before disappearing out the door, leaving Victor alone with Yuuri. The ballet instructor was packing his own bags, bent over to reach the bags better. The studio was entirely empty, the late afternoon sun filtering through the large windows tiredly. 

Quietly, Victor approached Yuuri from behind and tapped him on the back, making the instructor jump a good foot in the air before straightening and turning around. He let out a flustered sigh before cracking the faintest smile.

“Victor, you scared me.” Yuuri said, turning back toward his bags to finish what he had been doing. Victor watched calmly as he pushed a few things into the bag and grabbed the handle, standing straight again.

“That was the point.” Victor chuckled, looking into Yuuri’s beautiful eyes for a moment of pure bliss. There was a temporary silence before Yuuri looked away, flustered once more.

“So, uh, how was work?” Yuuri asked, wringing his hands on the strap of the duffle he had slung over one shoulder. Victor immediately felt the life go out of him as this was brought up. Sometimes he wished he could escape the same talk of the same cases and his constant failures.

“We can’t get JJ. Apparently he’s buying off a bunch of people to get away and it’s working? They think the photograph was Photoshopped! I can’t believe they actually think the police would lie!” Victor ranted, throwing his hands around the room, going on about JJ and Eros’ ‘rivalry’, losing himself in the stress and the annoyance of his work. 

When he finally paused to catch a breath, he noticed a distinctly annoyed look on Yuuri’s face. It wasn’t very common, something he reserved for situations that he couldn’t stand. Victor’s pause lengthened when he noticed, and Yuuri began his own rant.

“If you’re so stressed, why do you keep talking about it?” Yuuri asked, his voice completely level, his face scarily calm. Victor had seen Yuuri annoyed before, the first time they had gone out for coffee had been upsetting. This, however, was an entirely different Yuuri. 

“Well…I….” Victor stumbled over his words, unsure what he was trying to say or what Yuuri meant. He didn’t talk about the case all the time, did he? He was pretty sure they talked about normal things on their dates.

“You never stop talking about it. I ask about your day and I like hearing a few things, I enjoy knowing how the cases are going. But Victor! This is ridiculous! I enjoy spending time with you, but you never ask about me.” Yuuri exclaimed, throwing his arms around a bit for emphasis, not letting go of the strap in his hand.

Victor had never heard Yuuri raise his voice. The usually timid man was speaking his mind loud and clear and Victor was shocked. He hadn’t thought it was that big of a deal. There had to be some mistake, he talked about other things with Yuuri, so why was it coming up?

“I-I mean, you’re a great person, Victor. Sometimes I j-just don’t think you actually like me.” Yuuri muttered, ducking his head as his cheeks flushed red. Without hesitation he ducked passed Victor and out the studio, disappearing down the street. Victor stood, frozen in place, unsure what had just happened.

His mess of a life had gotten far messier. 

\----

The dark room was lit only by the streetlights shining just outside the window. Finding a way to trap Jean-Jacques had failed every single time and another week had finally run out. Victor had been stuck at the office trying to solve the case when a call had been made that another robbery was in progress. 

This time Victor arrived faster, just as JJ was leaving the building. He had managed to trap the other man in the building with him and the store owner, but the lights had gone out again and yet another pop song was playing over the speakers. JJ dodged this way and that, declaring himself better than Eros and teasing Victor.

“I told you, you can’t touch me.” JJ cooed, twisting away from Victor’s grasp yet again, sidestepping as the silver haired detective shot another hand out in the direction JJ had stepped. He was slick, hard to catch, and cocky as hell. 

“I’ll find a way.” Victor growled, stopping in his pursuit of the pink clad man, hating the bright colors JJ wore. It, frankly, hurt his eyes just a little bit. 

“You never caught Eros, there’s no way you’ll catch me.” JJ boasted, throwing his arms out to his sides the way he did when he was showing off. Victor rolled his eyes, hating the way JJ bragged about being better than Eros. It had taken Victor three months to get a lead on Eros and he still hadn’t caught him. It had been three weeks since JJ had shown up and Victor had identified him a week ago, he just couldn’t touch him. Yet. 

“Please, Eros was always a better thief.” Victor shot back, angry that JJ would insult his favorite thief like that. Favorite thief? Victor felt himself crumbling as he realized how much he had enjoyed his run ins with Eros. Watching him move had been enough to keep Victor going for another week. Having not seen hide nor hair of Eros in months was enough to worry Victor, but Yuuri had more than made up for that. With his physical similarities, it was almost as if Victor had Eros with him all the time. The only difference was that Yuuri was not a major flirt. He got all flustered and stuttered whenever Victor tried to grab his hand. 

“You’re just blind! I’m a better thief than Eros! Tell him yourself! In fact, I challenge Eros! Let’s see who the better thief is!” JJ shouted angrily, flashing his double J hand signal before racing out the door. Groaning loudly, Victor turned his head toward the case where the jewel had been, feeling worse as he noticed the large, empty space where the jewel had been. 

“How do you propose I tell him?” Victor grumbled sarcastically after apologizing to the store owner and leaving the shop. “It’s not like I can talk to him.” Victor muttered angrily, getting in his car with a slam of the door. Life just didn’t know when to quit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: JJ plays a trick


	6. Challenge Rejected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ tries to pull a fast one and it doesn't succeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ya'll go! School's been keeping me pretty busy, but I'll try to update every other week!

The universe hated Victor. He was one hundred percent sure it had something against him. JJ had challenged Eros but Eros hadn’t shown up in a month. JJ wouldn’t go away any time soon and there was still no solution to the Eros case. Two of Victor’s most important cases – the ones on which his job rested – could not be solved.

At least he still had Yuuri.

“Do you want to go out tonight?” Yuuri asked, stroking Victor’s hair absently as the TV played something faintly in the background. Yuuri had been watching it for the last hour and Victor had been trying to nap, but sleep wouldn’t come. When Victor groaned miserably for what seemed like the billionth time, Yuuri finally spoke up. Lazily, Victor opened his eyes to look up at the man above him. 

Yuuri had grown more comfortable around Victor in the last month, something the Russian enjoyed greatly. He still got extremely flustered when Victor got too clingy or tried to kiss him. They had been dating for a month and Yuuri wouldn’t let Victor kiss him! It was yet another infuriating part of his stupid life, but at least Yuuri still agreed to go out with him. If he didn’t, Victor would have little desire to do anything. 

“I don’t know. I’m so tired.” Victor whined, desperately wanting to go out but not wanting to force Yuuri to do something. If the Asian man didn’t want to, Victor didn’t want to make him. It was a cycle, this particular conversation had happened several times before in different settings and with different words. 

“Victor, it’s fine. I’d love to go out with you. It’s been a while since we’ve been on a proper date.” Yuuri responded, rolling his eyes at the silver haired man. What had he done to deserve someone like Yuuri?

“Are you sure?” Victor pouted, big blue eyes looking up at Yuuri as if begging for something. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were at Yuuri’s apartment, Yuuri would have had to deal with the same eyes from Makkachin. 

“Of course.” Yuuri huffed, his exasperation with Victor’s antics clear. Still, Victor didn’t move but only looked up at him. “C’mon. Get up. We’re going to get dinner.” At this, Yuuri bounced his knees up and down, forcing Victor off of his lap so he could stand up. Victor rolled off the couch, barely landing on one knee as Yuuri pushed passed him and toward his bedroom. 

As Victor rose to his feet, Yuuri returned to the living room with a jacket, pulling it over his shoulders as Victor brushed the wrinkles out of his clothes. 

“Thanks, Yuuri.” Victor said as Yuuri headed toward the front door and slipped on his shoes. Victor followed suit by pulling his own shoes on, not needing to tie them. He had come straight from work and his shoes didn’t have laces, but Yuuri had pulled on a regular pair of sneakers and was busying tying them when Victor straightened up.

“I’m starving and you’re paying.” Yuuri responded, his voice slightly muffled from his facing away from Victor. The Russian detective couldn’t help but feel just a little bit offended, but mostly amused, at Yuuri’s comment. As the smaller man finished tying his shoes, Victor offered a hand to help him stand.

“Naturally.” He commented with a slight smirk, not letting go of Yuuri’s hand as he reached his full height. Yuuri only responded with a teasing smile before opening the door and heading out. Victor followed behind him, shutting the door and waiting while Yuuri locked it. Victor’s car was parked in the lot for Yuuri’s apartment, right in front of the building so he could get to it easily when he needed to leave.

“Where were you thinking we should go?” Victor asked, letting go of Yuuri’s hand to open the passenger door. A light shade of pink brushed Yuuri’s cheeks as he ducked his head into the car. Victor’s overly affectionate and chivalrous nature flustered Yuuri which, in turn, made Victor the happiest man on Earth. 

Quickly he jogged toward the other door and slipped in, so he could hear what Yuuri had to say. As he dropped into his seat, the Asian man hummed in thought, dragging it on until Victor was completely buckled in and had already inserted the key into the ignition. 

“Nothing fancy. Something simple. I don’t want to make you spend too much.” Yuuri responded, turning to look slightly at Victor as he put the car into reverse and slowly began to back out. The silver haired man chuckled lightly, feeling his mood lightening already. Yuuri always made him feel better.

“You assume I’m going to pay.” Victor commented, watching behind himself as he backed out and then put the car in drive and headed toward the street. Yuuri gave Victor a look he had to glance at to see, making Victor laugh again, this time harder.

“You’re not? If that’s the case, then you should turn back around.” Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh a little at himself. He was pretty good at being sly, something he had worked on while being around Victor. He still found it hard not to laugh at himself because he wasn’t used to talking that way.

“No, no! I am. Trust me, I am.” Victor defended, pretending he hadn’t caught Yuuri’s break of character. The Asian man responded with a curt nod before turning his head back toward the front of the car.

“Good, because you know I can’t.” The conversation died there as they drove in a comfortable silence to wherever Victor felt like taking them. There was plenty to talk about, but Victor knew better than to bring up work or his cases when Yuuri was with him. The roads were virtually empty as the night drew on, the sun just on the edge of the horizon. 

There was a small gasp from the passenger seat as Victor pulled into the cramped parking lot of the well hidden restaurant. It was the best kept secret the city had and one of the most amazing places to eat out at.

“I’ve only ever heard of The Bowl. I didn’t know it actually existed.” Yuuri awed at the sight of the small restaurant tucked neatly between two larger buildings and an apartment complex. The entrance to the parking lot was hidden behind bushes and trees used to decorate the apartment complex. It could only be found if one knew where to look, and Victor knew where to look. 

“Christophe brought me here when I first came to the city. We still pop in on occasion, but I realized I had never brought you here.” Victor responded, putting the car in park and turning it off. He unbuckled himself and watched Yuuri’s grin widen as he pushed the car door open. 

The small restaurant was built like a Japanese palace, though only a single story. It specialized in katsudon but served many other Japanese dishes; but only in bowls. There was a rumor somewhere that one of the chefs knew how to make the Chinese dish of egg drop soup, but that was only a rumor. 

Victor pushed open the door to let Yuuri in and the smaller man seemed to take it all in with a big grin. It was multileveled, though each level was only separated by about two feet. There was a small entrance area where a host waited to show them to their seats. Behind the host was a small stair case leading up to the raised level and to their right was a slightly larger staircase leading to the lower level. 

“Welcome! How many in your party?” The host asked, approaching them with a friendly smile and a pad in his hands. Victor smiled back, laying on a bit more charm than was really necessary.

“Just two. Do you think we could get window seats?” He asked, looking around the restaurant and noticing the small amount of people. Despite the later hour the place was fairly empty. On weekends and certain weekdays it was packed full of people. 

“I can check.” The host responded, looking down at the pad in his hand, which turned out to actually be a small tablet. He pressed a few buttons and scrolled to find what Victor had asked as Yuuri scanned the walls and details of the restaurant, still slightly in awe. 

“There is a couple seat open by the windows. If you’ll follow me, please.” Came the response after a moment and the host grabbed a couple of menus before heading toward the back of the restaurant. 

The biggest kept secret of The Bowl was the location. Not only was it difficult to find, but it was on a hill. In the back were floor to ceiling windows that gave the customers an amazing view of the city and valley below. The instant the windows came into view, Yuuri’s jaw dropped. 

“Here you are. These are your menus. Your waiter will be with you shortly.” The host said, gesturing to the table as they set down the menus and then headed back toward the front. Yuuri approached the table slowly, jaw still slack as he looked over the view that they would be sitting next to the whole night. Victor pulled out his boyfriend’s chair and waited patiently, watching as Yuuri approached him.

“Why haven’t I been here before?” Yuuri asked, finally snapping out of his dumbfounded stupor and turning to look at Victor. His amber eyes held a sparkle that Victor always melted in. It was a beautiful sensation, the tingle that went down his spine every time he saw those beautiful eyes. Victor smiled, gesturing for Yuuri to take a seat.

“I guess you just needed the right person to go with.” Victor responded, smiling coyly as he pushed Yuuri’s chair in and then slipped into his own seat. The small, Asian man chuckled and shook his head, his exasperation at Victor’s charm never going away. 

“That makes you the right person then, huh?” Yuuri asked, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands. Victor wiggled his eyebrows, eliciting an adorable laugh from the dark haired man across from him. He opened his mouth to respond when their waiter showed up with a pad and a pencil in hand.

“Good evening, folks. Any drinks I can get started for you today?” The man asked, pencil held over the pad, poised to write. Victor turned his attention from Yuuri to the waiter with a smooth smile, changing from the flirty goof to the charming gentleman instantly. 

“Yes, could I get-“ Before Victor was able to finish his phone began to ring. It blared the preset ringtone, meaning it was either an unknown number or someone he didn’t care about enough to set a ringtone for. Apologizing to the waiter he slipped it out of his pocket and looked disappointedly at the unknown number. Still, he needed to answer it. He never knew when it would be work. He gestured for Yuuri to order a drink and slid to answer.

“Victor Nikiforov.” He spoke formally into the phone, waiting slightly impatiently to hear who it was and what they wanted. His fingers were slightly poised to hit the hang up button if it was a solicitor or some other undesirable caller.

“Victor, it’s Maddy. We just got a call about another Eros letter. It was only just received but the time is for half an hour from now. Yakov wants you there right now.” The voice on the end of the phone was familiar and frantic. She must have tried his desk first in case he was still at work and then had to search for his cell number. 

“Really? After a month? Why so sudden?” Victor asked, watching absently as Yuuri finished ordering a drink for each of them, thanking the waiter politely as he finished. When the waiter was gone, Yuuri turned a concerned expression to Victor. 

“Yeah. I don’t know why, Victor. That’s what you have to figure out.” Maddy informed him, her voice sounding a little bit desperate as she spoke. It was almost as if she was pleading with him to leave now. Yakov must have really gotten on her case about getting Victor out there immediately.

“Alright, tell me where.” Victor responded, feeling instantly drained. It had been a month since he had last seen Eros, he should have been thrilled. The phantom thief had disappeared ages ago and was suddenly showing up. The disappearance hadn’t been at all like Eros, but this was ridiculous. Something was up. 

Maddy read off the address that Eros had said he would be striking and Victor wrote it down on a little pad he kept in his pocket. Thanking her several times, Victor then hung up the phone and stood instantly. 

“I’m so sorry, Yuuri. Eros showed up for the first time in months and I have to go check it out.” Victor apologized, genuine regret filling his voice to the brim. Yuuri looked clearly disappointed and a bit surprised, but stood with a gentle smile and grabbed Victor’s hand calmly. 

“It’s fine, Victor. It’s your job. I know Yakov would have your head if you didn’t show up.” Yuuri said, rubbing Victor’s fingers as reassurance. Victor knew he didn’t deserve this amazing human being, but he was so glad that Yuuri was his boyfriend. 

“Thanks, Yuuri.” With that they turned and left the restaurant, Yuuri shouting an explanation to the host as they left and apologizing for any inconveniences. There was no time to drop Yuuri at home, the letter said he would be striking within minutes and the location was between The Bowl and Yuuri’s apartment complex. Yuuri would have to wait in the car. 

Victor broke a few laws as he sped toward the location Maddy had told him, realizing with surprise that it was only a couple of blocks from the ballet studio where Yuuri worked. It had always amazed him just how many locations had jewelry in the city, but the first one Eros had struck and this latest one were rather close. 

Pulling swiftly and rather recklessly into a parking spot, Victor got out of the car and headed toward the shop, not even bothering to tell Yuuri to wait or that he would be back soon. He assumed Yuuri knew to stay where he was an not interfere. 

The building was smaller than most places Eros struck but held several valuable gems and jewels that were worthy of Eros’ eye. When Victor entered the shop the whole place was lit up against the coming darkness from outside the windows. The man on shift stood at the front desk all the way at the back of the store, absently playing with something sitting on the counter. When the door chimed at Victor’s entrance, he looked up briefly and then back down at what he was messing with.

“You’re late. He was supposed to come a while ago.” The man said, shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other, twirling a small card around on the smooth surface below his fingers. Victor was surprised. Not only was this man showing far more calm than most who had been threatened with robbery, but Eros was late. Eros never missed the time he came. He was on time every time, almost down to the minute. 

“Where could he be? He never misses a time.” Victor mused allowed, unintentionally eliciting a small shrug and a grunt from the man behind the counter. The shop was dead, empty, and neat. There was no sign of break-in or missing jewels. It was almost peaceful, if it wasn’t for the slightly ominous air that hung about the store. Something wasn’t right.

There came the sudden sound of shoes tapping against hard floor. Victor whipped in the direction of the sound: the front of the store. Before he even saw who it was, Victor knew. The lights were still on and the door swung swiftly shut, slowing itself automatically so as not to slam loudly. The only person capable of such dramatic indifference was none other than JJ.

“Detective, it’s nice to see you again.” JJ cooed, sashaying dramatically toward Victor. His flashy outfit was different every time, this time it was a bright blue that stood out against the monotone greys and blacks of the jewelry store. He wore small heeled boots that tapped loudly against the wooden floors and gave him no more than half an inch of height.

“JJ. What are you doing here? Eros said he would be here.” Victor growled, offended that JJ would show up instead of Eros. The smooth, beautiful thief had failed to show up for a month, Victor doubted he would show up now. Why hadn’t he considered it would be JJ? The only question he had to pose was: why was it JJ? What did JJ have to gain from tricking Victor into thinking Eros was going to strike?

“Proving a point, detective. I am clearly the better thief, Eros didn’t show up.” JJ boasted, throwing his arms out to his sides in a gesture that said ‘see for yourself’. One last time Victor scanned the shop, one last time he noticed a great lack of Eros. Why would he write a letter and then not appear? Had he forgotten about it? It was unlike Eros to miss one. Maybe it had gotten lost in the mail. No, he would have remembered it. Eros probably had a calendar where he kept every date and time of a job just so he wouldn’t forget.

“Wait. You wrote the letter.” Victor snapped, turning his head back to JJ as the man stopped walking, placing his hands on his hips and posing as if there were cameramen in the store. Other then the security cameras and the shop worker, Victor and JJ were alone. 

“Of course! I wanted to prove that Eros was a lousy thief and I’ve done it. He didn’t show up for his own heist.” JJ grinned, clearly proud of himself for pulling such a trick. Victor scowled in his direction, hating how much JJ insisted he was better than Eros. There was no reason to be so proud, Eros hadn’t been the one to send it.

“If Eros didn’t send it, he wouldn’t even know he was supposed to be here.” Victor said, pointing out a flaw in JJ’s plan. The only way to prove who was the better thief was play a fair game, and using Eros’ calling card without the other thief’s knowledge was a cheat. There was no way to prove that Eros was a bad thief just because he hadn’t known. 

“So? He’s not here, I’m better, end of argument. Now, I’m just going to take-“ With a flourish and the dramatic effect of surprise, the lights shut off. For a moment, Victor couldn’t see JJ, just his silhouette against the streetlights out the windows. His head turned frantically, whipping this way and that as if searching for the lights. 

A small grin curled onto Victor’s face.

“My oh my, looks like I forgot to RSVP to my own party.” Came the gentle purr of a familiar voice from behind Victor. Even after a month of not seeing Eros, his voice was still easily recognizable to the detective, as if they had never parted ways. Turning slightly, prepared to melt into the attractive man’s appearance, Victor faced Eros and was met with a familiar, wonderful sight.

“Detective, long time no see. I sure did miss you.” Even in the low light, Victor could see Eros wink seductively and the silver haired man’s knees went weak. From behind Victor came an angry scoff: JJ was still in the shop, watching all of this.

“JJ, is it? I don’t believe I’ve properly introduced myself. I’m Eros, it is a pleasure to meet you.” Eros bowed deeply, his arms twirling through the air, almost mockingly. JJ scoffed again, mouth agape at this before he took a rather childish defensive stance. 

“I am your rival! You don’t need to introduce yourself to me!” JJ exclaimed, clearly flabbergasted at Eros’ gentlemanly behavior. Victor was more than entertained, thrilled to see Eros again and more than happy to watch JJ stutter over his words. 

“We’re rivals? No one told me this.” Eros’ voice lilted curiously, his interest mockingly peaked at JJ’s declaration of their rivalry. Victor laughed, attempting to hold it back and cover it up as a cough instead. It was only semi successful because JJ turned his gaze toward the detective accusingly. 

“Of course we’re rivals! Two phantom thieves in one city? What else would we be?” JJ asked, his anger evident in the tone of his voice. Eros remained cool and collected, responding to JJ’s bursts of explanations with smooth replies. Victor was falling in love with Eros all over again, a dangerous game considering the relationship he was in with Yuuri.

“We could be friends. Work together. Torment poor Victor here.” Eros offered, taking a sly step forward, making eye contact with Victor momentarily as he did so. He raised an eyebrow ever so slightly in that instant and Victor could almost read what he was trying to say. JJ was ridiculous, Eros clearly didn’t understand where JJ’s ‘rivalry’ idea had come from. 

“That’s ridiculous! Two phantom thieves in the same city would never get along. That’s not how it works!” JJ exclaimed, his incredulousness increasing as Eros took another step forward, this time directing his eyebrow raised gaze toward JJ. JJ didn’t seem capable of reading his expression because he didn’t visibly or audibly respond in any way. He simply remained where he was with his arms crossed and his eyebrows pinched together. 

“Why does it have to work that way all the time, though? I don’t see why we couldn’t be friends and work together. We could get twice as many jewels. Maybe even three or four times as many.” Eros reciprocated, his tone of voice purposefully attempting to make JJ sound stupid. It was working very well, because Victor was nowhere near convinced Eros was actually offering to partner up with JJ. That was far beneath the sleek, Asian man. 

“Because that’s just how it works! There is no other explanation. Plus, I don’t need four times more jewels. I just do this for fun.” JJ shot back, his words sounding like a pouty child whose game wasn’t working in his favor. Victor couldn’t believe this was a grown man standing in a jewelry store, threatening to steal a priceless jewel. What a petty reason to become a thief. 

“Aw, that’s too bad. I’m sure we would make a wonderful team.” Eros pouted, leaning backward and turning his head toward Victor slightly. A sly smile played on his lips and he winked, as if reassuring Victor that this conversation with JJ was just a detour. Victor felt himself melting just a bit more and was surprised to find he wasn’t a puddle on the floor. 

“Tsk. We’d never make a good team.” JJ snapped, throwing his nose dramatically toward the ceiling. Eros simply shrugged and continued forward, eyes scanning the shop as if he was browsing to buy something. JJ didn’t seem to notice this, but Victor watched Eros carefully as his amber eyes danced off each and every jewel hidden beneath clear glass.

“You are far too quiet for a phantom thief. A good thief makes noise and gets the cops attention so they can be front of the papers. I’ve done an excellent job if you need an example.” JJ boasted, throwing his arms around dramatically as if showing off the headlines Christophe had written about him. There was no scoff from Eros, but Victor caught the turn of his lips as his face turned away. 

“Isn’t the point to tease and not get caught? You’re throwing yourself where they can easily get you.” Eros sounded more informative than flirty, his normally seductive tone dropping to a normal, conversational pitch. Victor found this side of Eros interesting, rather mysterious and new, but very welcomed. It was also rather familiar. 

“They can’t catch me, though. You’ve seen the papers.” The dark haired man turned toward Eros, eyes following him but not watching him as he spoke. Eros nodded, his expression changing from bored to interested, as if he were seriously considering JJ’s point. The conversation was accompanied by the soft tapping of Eros’ feet against the tiled floor of the shop, the lights from the outside still the only thing allowing anyone in the shop to see. 

“I have not read the papers, but I have heard a lot about you.” Eros admitted, glancing up at JJ for a quick moment, just to catch the way JJ dropped his jaw, annoyance written across his features. “You put yourself out there too much. They know who you are and you can’t hide anymore.” Eros commented, finally settling his roaming feet by a counter of jewels particularly high. It stood out from all the others, displaying what was likely the jewel JJ had been intending to retrieve. 

Victor moved quietly toward Eros, trying his best to catch the man without being caught. He was distracted, it was the perfect opportunity.

“Ah, but they can’t! Didn’t you see! I’m untouchable! Anyone who tries to come near me has to answer to my lawyers. You don’t have that, now do you?” JJ countered, clearly not paying any attention to either Victor or Eros’ intentions. The silver haired detective inched closer to Eros, the distance not far. It was difficult against the hard floor of the shop, but he wanted to have something to show for this night. 

“I do not, no, but I also don’t have an identity. Is that not the point of a phantom thief?” Eros asked, placing his hands gently against the edges of the glass case around the jewel. It looked like a normal gesture, as if he were simply resting his hands there to support some of his body weight. JJ took it this way, scoffing and shaking his head.

“A phantom thief only needs to evade capture, he doesn’t need to remain hidden.” The taller man shook his head and laughed, giving Eros time to remove the case over the jewel and slip the biggest of them all out. JJ had stopped laughing by the time Eros slipped the jewel out of sight. Eros gently placed the glass case back over the jewel, the obvious action still not clear to JJ. 

“But a phantom is the figment of the imagination. How can you be a figment when there’s solid evidence you exist?” Eros asked, officially stumping JJ. The man stood with his mouth flapping open and closed like a fish out of water. It wasn’t an attractive expression, but Victor couldn’t help but smirk at the way Eros had cut him off. It was the best to see someone finally shut up that idiot. 

“Plus, I know who you are and you just confessed to being who you are in front of the lead detective on the case.” At this, Eros turned toward Victor and the detective had to think quickly. Slapping his cuffs into Eros’ wrist was the first thing that came to mind and the thief looked down at the metal bracelet, expression disappointed.

“Detective, how could you? I was helping you catch this guy and you target me instead?” The pouty look on his face and the way he swayed his hips so they were pressed against Victor’s made Victor shiver. How did he do it so well? Play Victor passed the point of logical thought. Just the warmth coming through Eros’ clothes was enough to make Victor feel lost. He was supposed to catch both thieves, Eros just happened to be the first he considered catching.

As usual, however, Eros was playing right out of his hands.

“I…I….” Victor stuttered, watching the amber eyes as they danced around Victor’s face, as if taking in his features up close. When they finally locked on Victor’s blue eyes they dropped their disappointed expression and took up a playful glint. Victor realized in that instant that Eros wasn’t handcuffed anymore.

“It’s okay, detective, you’ll see me again. I promise.” With those words, Eros blew Victor a kiss and disappeared out the door, leaving Victor and JJ alone with the store employee. Looking down, Victor found his cuffs around his own wrist and couldn’t help smiling fondly over the familiarity of this situation. Why did he miss this so much?

“That’s disgusting, Nikiforov.” JJ’s words snapped Victor back to the present and the detective opened his mouth to defend himself. He didn’t have a handcuff kink…he thought. “Anyway, he was wrong. Just because you heard JJ say he was Jean-Jacques doesn’t mean anyone will believe you. Arrivederci!” Then JJ was gone.

There was a silence that filled the store that only ever occurred after Victor ran into one of the two phantom thieves he was chasing. It was awkward at first, then eerie, then comfortable. For a moment Victor didn’t move, but he finally sighed and began digging through his pocket for the keys to his cuffs. 

“Does this happen often?” The store employee asked, his once bored face lit with the excitement of the exchange that had just happened. Victor sometimes forgot there were employees or owners in the store when the thieves showed up, and he still jumped when they spoke. With yet another sigh, he unlocked the cuffs and turned toward the man.

“Yeah, yeah it does.” Victor said, flinching when the lights suddenly came back on. The man at the counter did the same, but his eyes appeared to adjust quicker because he wasn’t blinking rapidly when Victor finally regained his sight. 

“So, um, will we get that jewel back?” The man asked and Victor nodded, not feeling nearly as drained as he used to when Eros showed up. Something about the exchange had actually been refreshing compared to all other interactions with JJ. Still, he was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he got to work the next day.

“Yeah, I’ll have it to you by tomorrow.” Victor promised. The employee nodded, not bothering to ask any more questions as Victor waved and left the store. The cold night air hit him as he breathed in, taking a moment before he crossed the parking lot to where he had parked the car and left Yuuri. How long had it been? He hadn’t been keeping track of time. 

Opening the car door, Victor opened his mouth to apologize to Yuuri but was stopped in his tracks when he realized the passenger seat was empty. In was a little white piece of paper with messy scrawl across it. Picking it up, Victor sighed, feeling guilty as he read it.

‘It was getting late. I’ll see you tomorrow.  
♥ Yuuri’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Victor gets a little less stupid
> 
> Also, in case you don't read the other fic of mine that's in the works, here:
> 
>  
> 
> [Fandom Tumblr ](http://lovers-be-nerds.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [Art Tumblr](http://willow-tea.tumblr.com/)


	7. Glittering Amber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor finally gets some glasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I've got a few things to say:
> 
> 1\. If you haven't noticed, I updated the number of chapters to 9! I combined three chapters into this one.  
> 2\. I added a few new tags. This chapter has some fade to black. Victor and Yuuri get a bit frisky ;D I'm not going to change the rating, though, so if you want to skip this sexy play, stop reading at "Victor flinched" and resume reading at the next "----"  
> 3\. I listen to an instrumental playlist while writing and this chapter was chalk full of convenient songs during sections. If you want to get some feeling out of this, the songs I listened to are:  
> [Eclipse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y52P4wgo1Qg) at "Then they narrowed"  
> [Magic Tree and I Let Myself Go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OETR3Nd2bFI) at the first "He ran"  
> [Secrets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFf0aLB_6GY) at the very end   
> It gives the words a bit of a feeling
> 
> Anyway, I love this chapter so much, hope you enjoy!

The weather was frightfully cold. Fall had long since vanished into thin air and the world had turned upside down. The sun was visible for maybe an hour a day but clouds covered the sky for the rest of the time. Snow fell heavily one night, closing Yuuri and Victor in for a night when they had intended to go out. The TV crackled with the sounds of a fake fire and the entire apartment smelled like popcorn and pizza. Jazzy music played faintly in the background and the couch was occupied by a sleepy Yuuri. 

“It’s really too bad we couldn’t go out.” Victor whined for what felt like the five millionth time that night. The only sound from the couch was a muffled grunt; Yuuri had gotten off of work only minutes earlier and had had to fight his way home. Victor had picked him up at the train station, insisting he drive him to his apartment because it was closer. Yuuri hadn’t fought him too much on the subject, Victor’s clothes fit him and he always had a spot on the couch. 

A fond smile crossed Victor’s face as he turned back to the oven, which had a timer set on its face to indicate how long the pizza had left before it was cooked all the way through. They had picked up a quick pizza on the way from the train station and decided they would have a pizza and movie night. It seemed, however, that Yuuri might not be awake long enough to enjoy the pizza. 

The snow had picked up again as the oven heated the apartment alongside the humming heaters. Yuuri may have been under several blankets, but he didn’t look like he was burning up. In fact, he didn’t look like much at all except a lump on the couch. That was what had made Victor smile. He was exhausted from work, but it was adorable nonetheless. 

After several more minutes of waiting, the timer went off, cutting harshly through the soft, content hum of the apartment’s inner workings. As Victor opened the oven to slip the pizza out, the pile on the couch began to stir and Yuuri sat up, glasses slightly askew on his face, eyes still shut as if refusing to open. Victor slid the pizza onto the stove and closed the oven, turning the dial to shut it off.

“Morning, sleepy head.” Victor chirped, more awake than usual. Despite the cold weather and the lack of any progress on either of his cases, he felt in a far better mood than normal. Leo had informed him that it was nice to have the old Victor back, as if someone else had come in and taken his spot. It was interesting, then, to see how these cases really affected his mood. Yuuri had been pointing it out for a while now, but Leo had confirmed it. Not being able to solve a case hit Victor hard. 

“Mmm, the pizza smells good.” Yuuri muttered, pushing himself off the couch to drop into a chair behind the bar. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and readjusted his glasses, but his hair was sticking up in every direction and Victor’s heart skipped a beat. He was so cute when he had just woken up. 

“Yup, it looks nice and crisp. But it’s probably too hot to start eating.” The silver haired man informed his boyfriend, taking a seat on the chair he had dragged to the opposite side of the bar. Yuuri blinked sleepily, a tiny smile gracing his face as Victor leaned forward, their noses bumping lightly. 

“Fine, I guess I can wait.” Yuuri mumbled, yawning in Victor’s face and causing the Russian to look away. As much as he loved Yuuri, his breath was still awful after not having eaten something since lunch. Only once he had shut his mouth did Victor turn back to look into the deep, amber eyes of his boyfriend. 

“That’s good.” Victor cooed, tilting his head slightly as Yuuri rolled his eyes lazily. “What movie were we thinking for tonight?” Victor asked, looking toward the collection of DVDs he had. It was a small collection, but he also had HULU and Vudu on his TV, so finding any movie they wanted wouldn’t be a problem. Netflix had a smaller option database, but if they were in the mood for something unknown and obscure, then they wouldn’t have trouble.

“I dunno, I just feel like sleeping.” Yuuri mumbled, rubbing his eyes a bit more and dropping his face toward the bar. Yuuri said that a lot, and usually he did fall asleep when they watched movies, so Victor had no issue if he fell asleep like that again. 

“That’s fine. I’ll just pick a movie and you can fall asleep.” Victor offered and Yuuri smiled. It was a ‘thank you’ smile. Victor leaned forward and Yuuri gave him a small kiss on the tip of his nose before the Russian stood again. He made himself busy by rummaging through the drawers before finding the pizza cutter and slicing the pizza up. He distributed a couple of slices onto two plates and brought them around to the couch, where Yuuri had dropped himself once more. 

Victor started up a movie via Netflix, an old one they had already watched several times, while Yuuri snuggled back into the blankets and nibbled at his pizza. They sat in general silence as the movie started and they ate their pizza. It didn’t take long for Yuuri to finish his and Victor to begin rambling fun facts and random stuff he knew about the movie and the actors in it. This easily put Yuuri to sleep.

About halfway through the movie, Victor had stopped talking and Yuuri was fast asleep. His heavy body weighed him down and he slid until his head was resting on Victor’s lap. Smiling fondly down at his black hair, Victor stroked it gently, pulling it out of his beautiful face and tucking it behind his ear. It was starting to get longer, he would probably cut it soon.

Before Victor could drag his attention back to the movie, Yuuri began to breathe harder, his face turning red, his eyes scrunching closer together. Confused, Victor’s eyes remained on his sleeping boyfriend a little longer in case he needed to wake him up. Yuuri’s panting became labored and his eyes twitched and shifted under his eyelids. What really caught Victor’s attention was when he started to groan, almost as if in pain. Something about it made Victor think pleasure, but he wasn’t sure.

“Yuuri.” Victor whispered, leaning toward his boyfriend’s ear so he wouldn’t startle him too much. Nothing more than a twitch came as a response. “Yuuri, are you okay?” Victor stroked Yuuri’s hair a bit more, his cold fingers dancing along the side of Yuuri’s face. This woke the sleeping man, who grumbled and moaned for a bit before opening his eyes and turning to find Victor above him.

“Vitya.” Yuuri whispered, his voice hoarse from lack of speaking. This fact didn’t register fully with Victor and he felt himself turning red at the sound of the nickname coming from Yuuri. The smaller man turned again, this time to face toward Victor’s stomach.

Victor flinched.

“Did I hurt you?” Yuuri asked, pushing himself up slightly into a propped sitting position. Victor shook his head, trying his best to put on a calm face. It was really hard to do when Yuuri was still panting slightly. 

“No, I’m fine.” Victor lied, looking Yuuri in the eyes as he said this. “Are you okay? You were breathing really hard. What were you dreaming about?” Victor asked. Yuuri ducked his eyes away from Victor’s and his face turned a darker shade of red. There didn’t even need to be a verbal response for Victor to understand what that look meant.

“Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Victor asked. He hadn’t done this before with Yuuri here, the man had always seemed too pure and innocent it had never struck him that he had wet dreams. If it was even possible, the blush on Yuuri’s face darkened, but he shook his head. With great effort, he looked back up at Victor and they locked eyes.

“I…I want Victor…to….” Yuuri tried but he couldn’t get much out by way of embarrassment. It wasn’t really important, anyway, because Victor knew what he meant and before he knew it, Yuuri had been slammed onto his back on the couch with Victor above him, grinning like a maniac. 

“Really?” The silver haired man asked, his excitement barely contained in his tone of voice. Yuuri nodded shyly and Victor’s grin widened. For a moment, though, he paused and gazed into the wide eyes of his boyfriend and registered the shaking the couch was doing. Victor dropped his grin a bit and looked lovingly into Yuuri’s eyes.

“I’ll be gentle, alright?” Victor promised, pleased to get a nod from Yuuri beneath him. Slowly, Victor leaned forward and started with a kiss. He tried to be gentle, filling the kiss with love instead of earnest lust. He knew Yuuri needed something kind. This could be his first time. Victor doubted that, but it was still the thought that kept him from going crazy. 

Yuuri willingly reciprocated the kiss, pressing earnestly back once he got into the rhythm of it. Before they both ran out of air, Victor broke off the kiss and made his way down Yuuri’s cheek to his jaw to behind his ear and then down his neck. As he did so, he slid his hands gently up Yuuri’s sides, caressing them softly underneath his shirt.

The Asian man shivered, but Victor didn’t stop or slow down. The pacing was slow and gentle as Victor slid his fingers across defined muscle and small bits of fluff. He continued to suck the spot on Yuuri’s neck, causing the smaller man to twitch at the feeling of it. What really made him flinch was when Victor’s fingers found his nipples and brushed over them gently. Yuuri let out a small gasp and Victor rose from where he had been working on a hickey.

“Is this okay?” He asked, not lifting his face very far from Yuuri’s. The man beneath him was an extremely dark shade of red now, almost as if it was his natural skin color, but he nodded anyway. Victor nodded before slipping his hands further up Yuuri’s chest, encouraging the removal of his shirt. When it came off it was tossed to the floor to be forgotten. 

Now, without his shirt, Victor had free reign over his torso, which was pale and beautiful and probably highly prone to hickeys. Inside his head Victor shouted for joy, working his lips along Yuuri’s neck again, slipping his hands down Yuuri’s sides some more until they rested on his hips, just above the waistband of his pants. Victor’s mouth worked its way down Yuuri’s chest, leaving hickey after hickey, until he met Yuuri’s nipple, his tongue playing softly with it, causing Yuuri to moan softly at the feeling.

Victor played gently with the nipple until he felt hands sliding under his own shirt, pushing it upward until it had gathered completely under his armpits. Looking up he caught Yuuri’s gaze and noticed the man was trying to initiate some fun himself. Victor smiled slyly and lifted his arms, allowing Yuuri to pull the shirt over his head. After this action had been accomplished and Victor’s shirt had joined Yuuri’s on the floor, they pressed their lips together again, the gentleness of this kiss opening the window and getting ready to hop out. There was a more earnest desire as they fought for who was in control. 

Victor won over when he dropped his hips and rocked gently against Yuuri’s crotch, the spot already rather hard. This caused the smaller man to gasp and release the kiss, whimpering a bit when Victor lifted himself up so he was a canopy over Yuuri’s body. 

They had only just started and Yuuri was already a very hot mess, his breathing heavier than usual and his face red with the exertion. But still, he smiled up at Victor when they made eye contact. 

Beautiful, bright, narrow amber eyes looked up at Victor with true passion, seducing him without even trying. They had such a distinct shade and pattern to them, Victor stared long enough into them to memorize that they were Yuuri’s. He would need nothing but his eyes to recognize his boyfriend in a photograph or in person. 

His pale skin was littered with bruises from the hickeys and his black hair had been pushed back. Small beads of sweat had already formed along his hair line, keeping a few strands stuck to his skin stubbornly. Gently, Victor brushed these strands into the rest of his head and kissed Yuuri on the forehead.

“I love you.” Victor whispered, giving Yuuri a kiss beside the ear before pushing himself back up and using one hand to work Yuuri’s pants off without removing his eyes from his boyfriend’s. Yuuri smiled up at Victor, memorizing the blue, the shape, and the pattern as much as Victor had memorized his amber. 

“I love you, too.” Yuuri responded, shimmying slightly to assist Victor in getting his pants off. The silver haired detective grinned and began laughing. Yuuri laughed lightly with him, but the laughter was drowned out by kisses and groans and moans as they resumed their love. The couch rocked against the muffling carpet, but the neighbors would not be able to mistake the shouts and moans for anything else. The sounds from the movie and the hum of the heater were drowned out as the world became only them and soon, faded out entirely.

\----

Victor came to work the next morning practically glowing. He had grabbed coffee with Yuuri before dropping his boyfriend off at work. Then he had driven to the station with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. 

Which he was singing when he walked into work that day.

“Someone’s happy.” Leo pointed out redundantly. Victor grinned widely and wrapped Leo in the biggest hug he was sure anyone had ever gotten from him. Coughing could barely be heard against Victor’s shoulder where Leo’s head had been buried. 

“I’m the luckiest man alive, Leo!” Victor exclaimed, drawing a few heads in their direction. Leo nodded and said something, his voice incomprehensible from the cloth in his mouth. Noticing this, Victor pushed Leo away and allowed his intern to take a deep breath before restating what he had said.

“What makes you say that?” Leo asked, brushing the small strands of hair out of his face that had been released from his ponytail. Victor grinned at him, winking his eye and pushing past the younger man to reach his desk.

“Because I’m dating the most beautiful person in the entire world!” Victor exclaimed, dropping his drink onto his desk with a gentle thud before slipping his jacket off and throwing it over the back of the seat with a flourish. Leo followed him, his brow creased in curiosity. 

“You’ve been dating Yuuri for over a month and you haven’t spouted this much gibberish since he first agreed to go out with you. Did something happen?” Leo asked, pulling his desk chair back and taking a seat as Victor dropped into his own chair dramatically. The detective logged into his computer, adding an extra flourish as he hit the enter key and turned toward Leo.

“We were snowed in, so we couldn’t go out.” Victor winked again, this time leaning against his elbow to wait out Leo’s slow realization. 

“Yeah, so were Ji and I. What do you guys…do?” Leo asked, hesitating slightly as realization hit him and he began to turn a deep shade of red. “Oh.” His voice was small and embarrassed, but Victor couldn’t help but laugh and slap him hard on the shoulder before turning back to his desk.

“Yep! Now, we’ve got some cases to solve!” Victor exclaimed, avidly turning toward his work and beginning from where he had left off the previous day. They were still working on finding a way to prove Jean-Jacques was JJ and trying to track down any hint about who Eros was, but the day seemed sunny and new. There had to be something new they could find because today was a good day.

“Nikiforov!” With a single word, Victor’s mood dropped. His fingers froze where they were over his keys and he turned toward Yakov’s open office door to find the chief staring him down angrily. Immediately he knew this couldn’t be good.

“Good luck.” Leo whispered as Victor stood and forced himself toward Yakov, who had disappeared into his always dark office to wait for the silver haired detective. Victor gave Leo a wary, shaky smile by way of thanks. It didn’t make him feel any better, though, as he entered Yakov’s office and shut the door behind him.

“You probably know why you’re here, Nikiforov.” Yakov grumbled from his desk, both his elbows resting on the wooden surface, fingers laced under his chin. It was a rather intimidating position for the man, but Victor smiled at him in attempts to lighten the mood. 

“The Eros and JJ cases haven’t been solved yet, sir.” Victor offered, trying not to make it sound as if he was ready to collapse at the drop of a hat. Yakov nodded slowly, his grim expression worrying Victor more than the normal, angry look he gave everyone. 

“And what does that mean for your job, Nikiforov?” Yakov muttered, not sounding at all like he was enjoying this conversation either. His job? Victor felt his heart drop into his stomach, his blood going cold, and his body going numb all at once. 

“I won’t have it for much longer, sir?” Victor offered, phrasing it as a question in hopes that he was wrong. Yakov nodded slowly, blinking as he did so. Victor felt panic rise in his throat. He didn’t have any back up plans, this was the only job he had and he hadn’t expected to lose it.

“You won’t have it much longer if you don’t solve one of these cases by the end of the month.” Yakov clarified, pushing a piece of paper toward Victor, who barely managed to will his body to move toward the desk and retrieve it. It was another Eros letter, this one for later that day in an exhibition hall smack in the center of the city. It was one of the biggest exhibitions the city ever saw and it came annually. It lasted three weeks, the first day had been two days ago. 

Victor had suspected Eros or JJ would hit it, but now that he knew Eros was going to hit it, he knew JJ would too. It was a professional crafts fair, where artisans and artists and musicians showed off their skills and sold goods to those who would buy. It was a winter fair of sorts, and was slowly becoming a huge deal. 

“One month, Victor. Dismissed.” Yakov finished, waving his hand noncommittally at Victor, instructing him to leave. But it wasn’t an angry ‘get out of my sight’ wave, it was a tired ‘come back successful’ wave. 

Victor left and slipped back into his seat where Leo was ready to hear what had happened. It took Victor a few minutes to register that Leo was even talking to him and it wasn’t until Leo asked if he was alright that he even responded.

“I’m out of a job if I don’t solve one of these, Leo.” Victor whispered, his fear taking over control of his voice. Leo went silent as well, not sure what to say. They sat like this for a few minutes before Victor took a shaky, deep breath and stood.

“You know what, I can do this.” He insisted, grabbing his jacket and heading toward the door, not even hearing what Leo said as he went. Part of him just needed to leave, to break down in private. Part of him wanted to believe he really could do it. All of him just wanted to keep his job. 

\----

The fair was held at the city’s fairgrounds on the very edge of the city where the business towers ended and the small businesses began. The convention center was in the middle of the fairgrounds and could hold thousands of people. There was a stage set up at the back behind a curtain for musicians and acts to perform and there were booths set up in neat rows all throughout the center of the center.

In another building were exhibitions for crafts and themed collections and novelties, but the jewels were on the far side of the large convention center. Their owners sat in comfortable chairs nearby them to answer any questions asked by the guests passing by. It was the emptiest part of the center, but people on the edges of the booths would stop, get the attention of their friends, and suggest going over to get a look. It was also the quietest spot on the floor, though that wasn’t saying much since it was one, huge open space and the sound echoed.

But Victor stationed himself in the jewel area, talking idly with the owners and other security guards on duty. They all knew Eros was coming but Victor had convinced them to stay set up so he could catch the thief. The citizens were still a bit disgruntled about the whole thing, but they complied when Victor reassured him he would get Eros this time around. Plus, they all knew their jewel would be returned eventually. It was JJ they were most wary about.

The flashy thief never called in and never gave back, they were a bit afraid he would show up, especially with Victor on duty. He reassured them that, if JJ showed up, none of their jewels would be stolen. JJ would be too busy showing off and they could all pack up without him noticing. It wouldn’t be too hard. 

However, Eros would probably get away with the gem. There was no denying someone’s jewel was going to be stolen. He made sure every citizen knew this, but reminded them that in the three months that Eros had been a common household name, he had never once kept a jewel. They all calmed down a bit when he said this, but he could still hear some whispering their doubts to their display neighbors. 

It was ten minutes until Eros said he would show up and Victor was pacing the jewel exhibit. Eros had never given a hint to which jewel he was going to grab, so the detective had no idea who to stand by. It was also a new location. Not only was the convention center far larger than any location Eros had hit, it was also enormous. He couldn’t just shut off the lights in the entire place, could he? Would he? It would cause mass panic and chaos if he did that, and Eros had never struck Victor as the chaotic type.

He was well organized and meticulous and careful. Nothing that could give him away or endanger anyone else would happen on Eros’ watch. Or, so Victor hoped. 

It wasn’t until one minute ‘til that Victor realized he was afraid of what might happen. If he didn’t catch Eros, the one chance he had of saving his job was JJ. After the convention was over, he would have a single week to catch one or the other and the chances of either showing up in that time frame were slim. He might not make it out of this with his job still intact.

There was a small tap on his shoulder, making Victor jump and spin around to find none other than Eros himself, full cloak and mask and everything, hair slicked back, cape in place. It was the same Eros he had known for months, yet something about him seemed different.

“Detective, I see you got my letter.” Eros cooed, slipping around Victor seductively, Victor following his movements. By the time Eros was finished talking they had spun a one-eighty. Victor sneered, fighting very hard against the severe attraction he felt toward Eros. 

“Yeah, well, you seem to enjoy taunting me.” Victor snapped, not feeling very much in the mood for nice talk. Eros’ eyes widened in surprise, their beautiful amber lighting up with shock, an oddly familiar expression despite Victor never having seen Eros use it before.

“What’s wrong, detective? Not in a good mood?” Eros didn’t sound taunting this time, but genuinely confused. Was there any reason for Victor to be in a good mood? If so, how could Eros possibly know it? Victor’s eyes narrowed and he threw his hand out to grab Eros’ wrist, a bit surprised when he succeeded.

“Not really, no. I’m just here to make sure you don’t take another jewel.” Victor hissed, pulling Eros much closer, until they were nose to nose and Victor was looking directly into very shocked amber eyes. They were beautiful, as they always had been, but the familiarity was eating at Victor. Why did he know those eyes?

Then they narrowed, pulling into their usual seductive, half lidded look. The resemblance struck him hard and Victor froze, remembering those eyes from last night. On the couch, surrounded by dark black hair and red skin. Closing in pleasure and pleading for more, sparkling lovingly and squinting accusingly. Every expression those eyes had made last night was burned into the back of Victor’s mind, memorized for all time.

Now, they were right in front of him. 

“How do you know I haven’t already?” Eros asked, backing away as if Victor wasn’t holding him. It took Victor a minute to realize he wasn’t holding Eros’ wrist anymore, that he was able to step back freely without trouble because his fingers had let go. It took him another minute to realize Eros was already gone.

Victor’s senses had slowed down tenfold, as if the whole world was made of amber tree sap and he was slowly getting solidified inside of it. He tried to turn to find Eros, but his head wouldn’t move fast enough, his body lagging behind his neck. Everything seemed frozen in time, slowed down, dragged out.

Then, all at once, time sped up and he was standing alone, the angry hand of a man trying to get his attention. Without hesitation, without thought, and without car, Victor ran.

He ran as fast as he could toward the doors of the convention center. He ran through the doors, not even bothering to apologize to the people who shouted angrily at him, who grunted when he shoved, who barked when he slammed. He ran across the empty, concrete grounds of the fair until he came to a gate where he had to impatiently push through the exit. He ran across the street without looking both ways. He ran across the parking lot to where he had parked in the back.

When he was done running, he was driving. He threw the car into reverse and backed out angrily, hitting the gas so that the tires squealed in protest. He floored it out of the parking lot, barely missing the parking attendants who waved at him to slow down. He didn’t look both ways when he shot out of the parking lot and onto the street. He barely thought about red lights and, eventually, numbly switched on his police siren, throwing the light haphazardly onto the roof through the window. 

The streets became a blur all around him as his mind raced and thought and buzzed and mulled. What just happened? Had he been imagining things? Yuuri wasn’t Eros, he couldn’t be. Could he?

It took what felt like years but was really mere minutes before he was pulling into Yuuri’s apartment complex and slamming to a stop outside his door. Victor barely managed to remember to turn the engine off before getting out and slamming the door behind him. He resumed running until he reached Yuuri’s door, and then he didn’t even bother knocking. 

“Vitya, what are you doing here? I thought you had work.” Yuuri stood in the doorway to his bedroom, pajamas on, hair messed up. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, as if he had just woken up. Victor knew what the real reason was. Why he wasn’t dressed for work. Why he was still home. 

“Where were you?” Victor hissed, surprising himself with how quiet his voice was. He approached Yuuri, not even stopping when he reached him. This caused Yuuri to back up hastily until they were in the bedroom and Yuuri had been pushed against the far wall.

“I just w-woke up, Victor. What’s going on?” Yuuri sounded desperate. What a brilliant actor, a thought said. Victor shook it off and snapped.

“No! Where were you?” He insisted, voice rising in volume as he cornered Yuuri in his own bedroom. Yuuri began to whimper and tears came to the corners of his eyes. He shook his head desperately.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Victor!” He insisted, but Victor wasn’t buying it. He had memorized those eyes. He had promised to never forget them. He had sworn to treasure them. He had committed to love them. There was no mistaking who those eyes belonged to.

Angry that he wasn’t getting a straight answer, he turned from Yuuri and spotted the closet door open ajar, as if Yuuri had just been going through it. Quickly he stormed toward it and threw it open. He was vaguely aware of Yuuri right behind him, but he couldn’t hear a thing once he had opened the door and spotted the dark black suit on the floor. Though crumpled, he could tell one side had a skirt. Beneath it was a black cape lined with red. 

On top of it all: a priceless diamond.

“Victor, I can explain.” Yuuri’s voice finally connected with Victor’s mind and the detective whipped around, eyes dark and brow set. Yuuri stopped speaking, his breath catching in his throat at the sight of Victor’s expression.

“What is this?” He asked, voice almost completely silent. The only sound for a while was that of Yuuri’s frightened whimpers as Victor stared into those beautiful, deceptive eyes. 

“I c-can explain.” Yuuri responded, not bothering to explain in one sentence because he knew – he knew – that he couldn’t explain. There was no explanation. There was nothing he could say that would fix this.

“You’ve been lying to me.” Victor hissed, voice harsh and cold like the weather outside. Yuuri began to shake his head but Victor wasn’t going to take this. “You –lied- to me!” Victor shouted, sure that the neighbors would hear but not even caring to keep his voice down. Yuuri flinched.

“I n-never lied to you.” He tried, his voice silent compared to Victor’s shout. Victor shook his head, looking away toward the door before turning back to Yuuri. His face was filled with hatred, loathing, disbelief, confusion, and pain. Not one single emotion could describe what Victor was feeling and he wasn’t even sure what it was.

“All those times, every moment I ever talked to you about Eros, you never once said anything!” He shouted, pointing angrily at the pile of clothing in the closet. Yuuri flinched again, but didn’t respond this time. Victor shook his head again, taking a step back and throwing his hands up as if in defeat. 

“My –job- is on the line, Yuuri! I could have lost everything.” Victor shouted, voice dying as he finished what he was saying. He didn’t wait for Yuuri to respond, but instead turned back toward the pile in the closet and grabbed the jewel from the top. Then he whipped around and left the room.

“Wait, Victor! Wait! Aren’t you going to arrest me?” Yuuri called, trying to follow him out. Victor paused before the door, hand on the knob, and took a shaky breath. It was what he was supposed to do. 

“I need to think.” He muttered before opening the door and exiting. He vaguely heard the shouts of his name from the other side, but it was enough to make him pause at the top of Yuuri’s stairs, and begin to sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Yuuri tries to make it better
> 
> [Fandom Blog](http://lovers-be-nerds.tumblr.com/)  
> [Art Blog](http://willow-tea.tumblr.com/)


	8. The Right Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Eros work together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, second to last chapter! Are you as excited as I am? I'm sad it will be over soon but also pumped to finally reach the end. Enjoy!

Victor woke to a banging on his door. 

Turning groggily over he glanced at his clock and noted that it was barely three in the morning. Who the heck was banging on his door at this hour? Throwing his blankets off he slid out of bed and began to shuffle toward the door when he remembered what had happened only hours earlier.

What if it was Yuuri?

Victor wasn’t sure how he was going to handle learning that Yuuri was Eros. It was hard enough already, to know that the one man he had been chasing for months was right under his nose the entire time. Sure, there was nothing really wrong with Yuuri being Eros, if it wasn’t for the fact that Yakov had threatened to sack him if he didn’t take Eros in. Victor knew that, even if he caught JJ instead of Eros, Yakov would eventually want Eros as well. What was he supposed to do in response to that?

“Victor, open the door! It’s freezing out here!” The voice wasn’t Yuuri’s, but Christophe’s. Hastily, Victor shot toward the door and threw it open, letting in a rather freezing Swiss man bundled to his chin in layers of warm clothing. Quickly Victor shut the door behind him, blocking out the cold weather.

“Geez, Victor, took you long enough.” Christophe complained, dropping several scarves onto Victor’s couch before beginning to shed his jackets. Victor shrugged, his body suddenly remembering how early it was and how long he had fretted over his response to Eros being Yuuri.

“Sorry.” Was all he managed to get out before rubbing his hands down his face. Because of this, he didn’t notice when Christophe whipped around, mid jacket shedding, to stare at Victor with narrowed eyes. Victor did notice this, however, when Christophe dropped a jacket to the floor and took his face in both hands, looking deep into his eyes.

“Who are you?” Christophe asked, pulling away slightly, dropping his hands only to Victor’s upper arms, holding tightly as if Victor might run off. Confused, the silver haired man creased his brows and tilted his head.

“Uh, I’m Victor Nikiforov? Who do you think I am?” Victor asked, highly unnerved by Christophe’s extremely intense gaze. Christophe scoffed at this, making Victor flinch as spit flew toward his face. 

“You don’t sound like the Victor Nikiforov I know.” Christophe insisted, continuing to look Victor in the eye. It was three in the morning and Christophe was making no sense. Victor rolled his eyes and sighed, brushing Christophe’s hands off and pushing him away gently. This only served to surprise Christophe further.

“It’s too early for this, Christophe. Why are you here?” Victor asked, exhaustion seeping through his bones as he dropped into a kitchen chair. Christophe watched as he did this, a single brow raised in a mix of confusion and concern. 

“I was wondering why Victor Nikiforov missed our lunch date today. I suppose I’ll have to come back later to ask him.” Christophe responded, huffing loudly before turning as if to head toward the door. Victor knew he wouldn’t leave, he never left. Plus, he hadn’t gathered his scarves and jackets.

“Why did you need to barge into my house at three in the morning to ask that?” Victor asked, feeling concerned for Christophe’s concept of time. Why was the man even up? Christophe usually had dinner with his boyfriend around nine and then they went to see a movie or go home for a little alone time afterwards. It was a routine for every night, whether they stayed home to eat dinner or went out, they always did it. 

“I was going to ask yesterday, but then I stopped by Yuuri’s apartment.” The name caused Victor to freeze. Tension drew taught in the air and Victor could tell Christophe could sense it because the man dropped his sarcastic expression pretty quickly. Silence filled the apartment for a very uncomfortable five or more minutes before Christophe sat down in a chair near Victor and tried to look his friend in the eye.

“Victor, what happened? The kid was a mess. I was there for three and a half hours trying to comfort him. What did you do?” Christophe asked, his voice dropping into a surprisingly soft tone. Despite this, Victor felt anger boil inside of him and he turned his face away from his friend so fast it was a miracle he didn’t snap his own neck.

“I didn’t do anything!” He snapped, ignoring the sound of disappointment Christophe made at this defense. 

“You can’t say you didn’t do anything, Victor. He couldn’t say anything except your name before breaking into tears. He eventually cried himself to sleep. What happened?” Christophe pressed, leaning slightly closer to Victor. At this news, Victor couldn’t help but feel a pang in his heart. He had injured his Yuuri with his words. But Yuuri had lied, hadn’t told the whole truth. Victor felt betrayed by his own boyfriend. 

“It wasn’t a big deal, alright?” Victor hissed, barely managing words above a whisper without his voice cracking. He wasn’t sure how long he could push Christophe off, especially since the man was a journalist. He was trained and well versed in pressing for answers and Victor was easy at cracking under pressure.

“Wasn’t a big deal? Victor! Stop avoiding my questions and tell me what happened!” Christophe shouted, standing from the chair he had been sitting in to grab Victor by the shoulders, only to pause before shaking him at the expression on Victor’s face.

Tears streamed down his pale cheeks, red outlined blue eyes as if it had been painted on, and silver brows arched downward in a frustrated expression. Christophe froze with his hands on Victor’s shoulders, staring in disbelief at the expression on his friend’s face. 

“Victor?” Christophe asked, dropping his hands to Victor’s upper arms as Victor collapsed into sobs once more. He had cried himself to sleep as well, but several hours earlier. He had hoped to never wake up, but Christophe had come barging in and done just that.

Christophe pulled Victor into a hug and the Russian man clung tightly to his shirt, fingers digging into the fabric as he buried his face into Christophe’s shoulder. Christophe rested his chin on Victor’s shoulder, not moving or saying a word, just standing there with his arms tightly around Victor’s back. There was nothing that needed to be said because Victor knew he had screwed up. 

After what felt like hours, Victor finally calmed down enough to talk. Pulling away from Christophe, he wiped the tears from his eyes, the red rimming them deepening at this action. Christophe looked Victor straight in the eyes as Victor took a few deep breaths and felt exhaustion overtake him once more.

“Yuuri’s Eros.” Victor said, voice almost too quiet to catch. Christophe, though, was used to Victor using a soft voice whenever he whined. Still, the Swiss man stepped back, expression wary and hesitant.

“What? That’s not possible, you’ve spent the last several months around Yuuri. I’ve met him several times, I’m sure he’s not.” Christophe insisted, his words and tone sounding like Victor’s own thoughts when he had finally recognized Yuuri’s eyes behind Eros’ mask. 

“It’s him, Chris. I stopped by his house and found the outfit and the jewel he took at the market today.” Victor explained, the recall of the memory like a punch in the gut. It couldn’t get worse than finding out that your boyfriend was the very reason you were about to lose your job. Victor couldn’t think about it long or he was sure he would break into tears again. 

“There’s…no way. He’s too sweet.” Christophe’s voice faltered as he spoke, but he trusted Victor’s word enough to know that what he said had to be true. It was hard to believe, but it wasn’t impossible. 

Victor only nodded, looking down toward his feet as he held back tears. It had been hard enough accepting that Yuuri was Eros, but as he spoke with Christophe he remembered that he was going to have to do something about it. It was his job to arrest the phantom thief, but his heart told him not to. It was a complicated issue he didn’t want to deal with. 

“What did you say to him?” Christophe asked, his voice going soft and Victor felt tears stream down his face again. Even after everything Yuuri had lied about, had left out, Victor still loved him and hated that he had yelled at him. What was he supposed to do?

“I yelled at him, Chris. I called him a liar and then stormed out.” Victor sobbed, dropping his face into his hands. Why was life throwing this at him? Why had he fallen in love with a thief? Eros-Yuuri was the very thing his job stood against. Crime was what Victor was supposed to be enforcing. Yet, Yuuri had gotten away with so many thefts in the span of four months and not once had Victor noticed. 

“That’s why he was a mess.” Chris noticed absently, making Victor’s breath catch and resulting in a rather strangled sob. Chris grabbed Victor’s shoulders and pulled him into a small side hug, rubbing his shoulders gently. “Sorry, Victor. Didn’t mean to bring that up.” He apologized, voice soft-spoken. Sometimes it was amazing that the usually loud, energetic man could be so quiet. 

For a moment they remained silent until Victor’s breathing had evened out and Christophe had stopped rubbing his shoulders. The blonde man yawned and Victor realized Chris had been up for hours worrying over Victor and Yuuri. He really needed to go home and sleep or he wasn’t going to make it out to work the next day.

“Chris, go home and sleep. You’ve been up for so long.” Victor sniffed, turning to look Chris in the eye and noticing that both were shut. He was falling asleep standing up. Victor sighed as Chris attempted to open his eyes and protest.

“You know what; scratch that go home thing. Just stay here for the night. You can call your boyfriend or something, just don’t attempt to go home like this.” Victor instructed, pushing Christophe toward the couch. There was no protest from the other man, luckily, but he did mutter something about calling his boyfriend being a good idea. As Christophe kicked off his shoes and fell over onto the couch, Victor grabbed a spare blanket from a closet and tossed it onto his friend. There were plenty of cushions on the couch to use as pillows, so Christophe was set. 

Just as Victor was leaving the room and turning the light off, the sound of Christophe’s voice came from behind him.

“What are you going to do, Victor?” He asked, voice soft and partially mumbled. Still, he was clear enough that Victor understood what he said. 

“I don’t know, Chris. I don’t know.” Victor mumbled back, flicking the light off and then disappearing into his bedroom to get some rest.

\----

The next morning was torture. 

Technically it was still the same morning but a few hours later. Victor woke up to Chris still asleep on the couch so he stopped by a coffee shop and grabbed some coffee and a small breakfast. The drive to work was filled with blurry eyes and a couple of close calls Victor didn’t like to admit were his fault. 

When he finally arrived at the office, the parking lot was very empty. There were a few cars sitting around, but Victor was pretty sure he was one of the first to arrive. He recognized Leo’s car as he approached the building but something else caught his attention before he could wonder why the boy was here so early.

Walking across the parking lot was Eros. 

Victor raced forward, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him around the corner of the building as he protested and fought. Without thinking much of it, Victor slammed him against the wall, making him cry out sharply and heave a massive breath.

“Geez, Victor, no need to be so rough.” Yuuri muttered angrily as Victor glanced in either direction to make sure no one was watching them. Then he looked right at Eros and almost broke down again, seeing Yuuri’s eyes. His beautiful, amber eyes. Only they were bloodshot as if he hadn’t slept.

“What are you doing?” Victor hissed, not even bothering to back away from Yuuri’s face as he said it. The smaller man flinched slightly as Victor’s breath assaulted his senses but he managed to refrain from coughing and simply rolled his eyes.

“Turning myself in. What does it look like?” Yuuri responded, clearly trying to put on a brave face. He was an odd mix between Eros and the Yuuri Victor knew. But there was something in the tone of his voice that hinted at what had happened yesterday. He was having a hard time keeping himself together. 

“Why?” Was all Victor could stupidly manage. Frustrated now, Yuuri yanked his arm out of Victor’s grasp and began rubbing the spot where his hand had been. Victor was still standing really close, so he couldn’t take himself off the wall. 

“Why do you think?” Yuuri spat, this time making Victor flinch. For a moment they didn’t speak as Victor attempted to work out what Yuuri meant. No one wanted to be arrested, why would Yuuri turn himself in? After everything Yuuri had worked for, becoming a ballet instructor, working with his parents at their hotel, living a life he had told Victor was more fulfilling than he had expected. After all this and he wanted to turn himself in? Why?

“My job.” Victor whispered, recalling that he had yelled at Yuuri about almost losing his job over the whole Eros issue. He was still going to be on the rocks with Yakov about the whole thing, but Yuuri turning himself in wasn’t going to be the right solution. Sure, it would solve the problem, but Victor didn’t feel quite right letting his boyfriend turn himself in just because Victor was about to lose his job.

“Yeah. I don’t want you to lose your job.” Yuuri muttered, looking away from Victor as he spoke. The softness in his voice was almost enough to make Victor start crying again. Sadly, though, Victor was pretty sure his eyes were permanently dry after last night. Still, he could tell that Yuuri still cared a lot for him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to lose you.” Victor responded, taking a step back to allow Yuuri to go if he wanted. The smaller man didn’t move, though, but just looked up, trying – and failing – to lock eyes with Victor.

“Then what do you want, detective?” Eros asked, his question sparking a sudden idea in Victor. There was another solution to this problem, but he was going to need Yuuri’s help. 

“I want to capture JJ.” Victor said, realizing he wanted to keep Yuuri but also keep his job and there was a perfectly obvious solution to that problem. Yuuri’s eyebrows rose and Victor nodded, feeling a plan formulate in his mind.

“Yeah, we’ll catch JJ together and then you can get away and never show up again. Yakov might just drop it if that happens.” Victor explained, mind now running a million miles a minute. It might just work, he thought, going over how it would need to go in order to work smoothly.

“Just tell me what you need and I’ll help.” Yuuri offered, a small smile appearing on his face as he watched Victor’s mind at work. He had seen Victor rant about work before, but this was the first time he had seen the silver haired man actually work on solving a case. “I’ll do anything to keep you.” He added, watching as the gears seemed to stop working all at once.

There was a pause where Yuuri shifted his feet, regretting having said that. Victor looked up and they locked eyes.

“Why did you do it, anyway? Why did you ever become Eros?” Victor asked suddenly, catching Yuuri off guard. The smaller man shuffled his feet and looked down awkwardly. At first there had been a good reason, but after seeing Victor’s face he had returned the jewel and then the whole Eros thing had become recurring and then it had gone from there. Once he had Victor, he had stopped, and then JJ had shown up, crashing his happy party.

“I needed a bit of money.” Yuuri admitted, taking a breath as he said it. Victor opened his mouth to ask another question, but Yuuri cut him off. “I needed money but then I saw you and, well, I couldn’t keep the jewel, so I gave it back. My friend, Phichit, insisted I keep doing it because I was so good at it and I didn’t argue very much.” Yuuri shrugged and laughed, a fond smile crossing his face. “I really enjoyed messing with you; you were just so fun to play with.” 

Victor smiled at this as well, recalling how infuriating yet enjoyable every interaction with Eros had ever been. 

“Then I saw you at the ballet studio and I thought ‘I can’t talk to this guy unless I’m Eros’, so it stuck.” Yuuri recalled his insecurity over how flirtatious Victor had been every time they met as themselves. “I didn’t date you because I was afraid you’d find out, but you came into the studio that one day and you just looked so upset, I couldn’t say no. I stopped when I realized I was content with you, I didn’t need to play anymore. I’m sorry I never told you, but it was just so fun and I didn’t think it would hurt what we had if I just never said anything.” A small tear escaped over the edge of his mask and Victor sighed, looking down at his feet when Yuuri finished.

“I don’t know if we’re ever going to get better, but I need your help catching JJ.” Victor admitted, not stopping to sugarcoat anything. As much as he wanted to hold Yuuri in his arms once more, he wasn’t sure he had the strength to.

“Anything.” Yuuri responded, looking back up and wiping his eye. Then they hatched a plan.

\----

It had been extremely difficult to convince the jewel owners to leave their jewels out for the remainder of the showcase. Yuuri had given Victor back the jewel he had stolen, which had been a guarantee even if Victor hadn’t realized it was Yuuri the whole time. Still, it took a while for the owners to finally agree to stay set up. JJ, after all, didn’t give jewels back. 

But that was the plan. Catch JJ.

It had been a couple of days since Victor had learned Yuuri’s secret and they were still wary around each other, but neither of them ever came to the point of tears just by being around the other. There was very obvious tension in the air when they were near each other, but Victor was glad to have some kind of barrier between them. This felt more like a business arrangement than a silly date.

Meandering about the display cases, Victor looked for obvious signs that JJ was about to show up. The biggest was that the market was far busier today than previous days. JJ liked a show, which often meant more people. This was the perfect day for JJ to stop by.

Another sign was that there had been rumors that one of the city’s biggest sponsors and contributors was going to stop by. The man was far richer than Jean-Jacques and more of a philanthropist. Something told Victor that JJ was going to want to show off in front of the man if he happened by the jewels. 

Other than those two signs, it was just like it had been on the last two days. Victor waited with the jewels just in case JJ showed up. He didn’t before, but this day seemed to be more likely than the others. Victor just hoped JJ would show up. If he didn’t catch JJ, he had promised Yuuri he would let him turn himself in. And he didn’t want Yuuri to do that just because it would save Victor’s job.

However, the deal had been made and there was no going back.

Wandering about the stalls, Victor noticed a man wearing all black. His hair was slicked back, shining brightly from the bright lights above. He wore a large pair of glasses and looked almost constantly worried that he was going to run into someone. He maneuvered carefully through the crowd, glancing occasionally at the jewel displays as if scouting it out.

Which he was.

Yuuri had on his Eros costume beneath a large black sweater and tight black workout pants. They were looser around the ankles, but Victor had a hard time not staring at the way they fit his butt, despite the lumpy fabric from the costume underneath. His hands were in his pocket where he kept the mask so he could slip it on quickly. He was ready to duck behind a booth and come out as Eros. To help capture JJ. Victor prayed that it was a foolproof plan. 

Without warning the lights in the entire building began to flash and music played over the loudspeakers. There came a laugh from behind Victor and the silver haired detective whipped around to see JJ strutting onto the floor in his usual bright purple costume, accented greatly by several different forms of gold jewelry. He was so flashy, everyone in the area turned directly toward him. Victor could hear shouts of confusion from other areas of the market, but his focus needed to remain on JJ.

“Detective, it’s nice to see you again!” JJ exclaimed, throwing out his arms as if to go in for a hug. Luckily he didn’t, but remained where he was, one foot crossed in front of the other, weight shifted onto a single leg. This made his hips stand out as if he were wearing heels, but Victor wasn’t drawn to his body the same way he was drawn to Eros’. 

Victor had to blink hard to erase the images that had popped into his mind at this thought. Eros has the same body as Yuuri, he had seen every inch of Yuuri’s, but he wasn’t going to see it again anytime soon. 

“You made a bad decision coming here.” Victor tried, hoping he didn’t sound too cheesy. He needed to hold JJ in place for as long as he could manage. As long as JJ didn’t take anything, he was fine. Since JJ liked to show off, he figured holding him in place wouldn’t be terribly hard. 

“I never make bad decisions, detective! Only good ones.” JJ corrected, taking a step forward and looking around the crowd that had gathered to see what was going on. He took in the attention like a celebrity who was so used to it that it came naturally. He flashed finger signs at the people taking pictures. It took Victor a second to realize they were shaped like ‘J’s. He took every ounce of willpower to not roll his eyes at this idiot.

“You’re not going to take a jewel this time.” Victor grumbled. Yuuri had insisted the crowd would play a part in keeping JJ in place, but Victor was annoyed to have to be working in front of so many people. He was afraid they wouldn’t take this seriously. They needed the element of surprise or Eros wasn’t going to be able to do his part.

“Oh, I think I’ll get a good one.” JJ said, turning back to Victor with a smug look on his face. “This one’s really pretty. Or, perhaps, this one.” JJ cooed, turning and looking at jewel after jewel. Victor was pleased to finally see Eros approaching from behind a curtain that was a sort of back stage for the jewel owners. He was wearing the mask now and dressed up in the usual sexy outfit Victor couldn’t get enough of. 

“JJ, look out!” Someone from the crowd shouted. A few people around them laughed and many shushed them. Victor cursed under his breath as JJ whipped around to face Eros; away from the crowd. 

“Ah, if it isn’t my arch-nemesis! So nice of you to join us!” JJ exclaimed, offering Eros the same open armed greeting as he had Victor. Eros rolled his eyes, not holding back the sass he had shown time and time again.

“I still don’t understand why you refer to me like that. I never thought it was a competition and I still don’t.” Eros responded, his sashaying strut almost hypnotizing Victor as he moved toward JJ. Snapping out of it, Victor turned toward the crowd, holding a finger to his lips and showing them his badge. He needed them to know this was serious and that he was going to need them to be quiet. A few people smiled and nodded and there were a few more camera clicks, but no one said anything. 

“Because we’re the same! Only I’m better!” JJ exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out. Victor couldn’t see his face from the back, but he could still see the super smug look on it. It almost made him roll his eyes, but he had to refrain from getting distracted as he approached JJ silently from behind. 

“Like I said, it’s not a competition.” Eros muttered, stopping where he had reached, only a few feet in front of JJ. Luckily, this drew all of JJ’s attention to him so JJ wasn’t looking anywhere near Victor. The crowd remained silent as Victor approached, slipping his handcuffs from his belt as quietly as he could manage.

“I say it is, and what I say goes!” Victor tried very hard not to cough at JJ’s extreme lack of tact. He was like a child in an adult’s body! There was so much Victor wanted to say but he refrained until he was standing right behind JJ, attempting very hard not to breath down his back.

“Fine then, but you lost.” Eros said, placing his hands triumphantly on his hips right as Victor slapped the cuffs on both of JJ’s hands and pulled him back so that they could look each other in the face. 

“You have the right to remain silent-“ Victor started, not even stopping as JJ scoffed, shooting him an incredulous look. 

“You can’t do this to me! I’ll have to see my lawyer! You can’t put me away!” JJ shouted, wriggling roughly and trying hard to get away from Victor’s cuffs. Smiling as he spoke, he turned JJ toward the crowd, who was now cheering and taking more pictures, and pushed him toward another cop that had been among the crowd, ready to help if necessary. 

Victor had finally caught one of the thieves and would get to keep his job.

“Victor!” All in one shout Victor’s good mood washed down the drain. He whipped around to find two of the other backups in the crowd had cuffed Eros and were dragging him toward the exit. He shouted desperately at Victor, but the detective froze in his spot. The crowd continued to cheer as the two thieves were dragged out to the cars awaiting them. 

“Vitya! Vitya, help me!” Yuuri shouted, tears beginning to stream down his face. Victor stood frozen in place, at a complete loss as to what to do. He had just won his job back two fold, but now he had lost the love of his life. Why did life like to punch him in the gut?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Fin
> 
> [Fandom Blog](http://lovers-be-nerds.tumblr.com/)  
> [Art Blog](http://willow-tea.tumblr.com/)


	9. Starting Anew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri gets interrogated by Yakov.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter, guys! Yay! Thank you all for tagging along for the ride! This one is a bit shorter, but I think it wraps up nicely. So enjoy!

Victor didn’t think he could stand this any longer.

Life had thrown so much crap his way and he had been given no time to figure out how to cope. New cases to work, new boyfriend to love, new jerks to deal with, and new twists to throw in his face. One thing after the other and he had had enough.

Storming into the office he watched as the secretary jumped at the sound of the door but rushed passed her without a second thought. He entered the office area where there was a group gathered around Leo’s desk. Victor knew what they were talking about; Leo was always the second to know anything about the Eros or JJ cases because he was Victor’s unofficial second hand man. 

Victor knew what they were discussing, but he bypassed this and headed toward the back of the office and a hallway that lead away from the desks. 

“Victor, wait!” The shout was Leo, he could tell the kid’s voice from anyone else’s. Still, he ignored him and kept toward the hallway, feeling a hand on his arm before he could disappear toward the back rooms.

“Victor, don’t go back there.” Leo pleaded, turning the older man toward him, his eyes wide. Victor locked eyes with him and knew immediately what Leo was trying to do. He had no idea Victor already knew Yuuri was Eros. Leo had never met Yuuri, but Victor had shown him pictures of the man when he talked about him to Leo. Leo had already seen Eros take off his mask. Everyone in the office knew it was him.

“I have to, Leo.” Victor responded, voice firm, attempts at sounding calm flying out the window the instant he spoke. He managed to keep his voice from cracking, but anger seeped through the words he said with more malice than he had intended.

“Victor, please.” The kid was trying hard, Victor had to give him that. But if Victor didn’t go back there, who knew what they would do to Yuuri. Victor had to stop them from giving him the same sentence as JJ. 

“Leo, I know.” Victor said, not even bothering to stay and see Leo’s reaction, but instead taking his arm from the younger man’s grasp and heading down the hallway. There were a couple of cops outside one of the doors, but the instant they saw Victor they stopped talking.

“Yakov’s got him.” One said, looking hesitant, as if wanting to step in front of the door and stop Victor from entering. It was a rare occasion that Yakov took on an interrogation, but this case had been going on for so long, the elder man must have wanted to close it himself. 

“Thank you.” Victor responded, stopping momentarily before the door and brushing his bangs from his face. He had followed the cop cars directly to the office but had gotten caught up in traffic they could avoid. Yuuri had already been at the department longer than Victor and he knew he was having a hard time. Yakov wasn’t easy.

Then Victor entered. 

It was quiet in the room. Victor had expected they would at least be talking but it was dead silent except the sound of pen on paper. Yakov sat on one side of the table in the interrogation room and Yuuri on the other, writing on a piece of paper Victor knew all too well.

“Yuuri, what are you doing?” Victor asked, approaching the table and finally catching the attention of both men. Yuuri looked up, amber eyes shocked and a little red. He appeared to have calmed down since Victor had seen him being taken away, but those eyes were frightened. Yakov, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at Victor and stood.

“You know this man?” He asked, turning toward Victor and demanding his attention. The silver haired detective gave it to him, shooting Yuuri one last look before locking eyes with Yakov.

“I do. He’s-he was my boyfriend.” Victor responded, eyes flicking toward Yuuri periodically, willing the smaller man not to write any further. If Yuuri confessed, he was going to be put away. Victor didn’t want to lose him.

“You really are thick headed.” Yakov growled, turning to look at Yuuri for a second before focusing back on Victor. “This man was Eros.” With this he gestured toward Yuuri, who was wearing the Eros costume but had removed the mask. Victor didn’t flinch at this and Yakov faltered.

“You don’t seem surprised.” The director’s voice dropped to a near whisper and Victor knew immediately what this meant. Yakov was near blowing a fuse.

“I-I’m not.” Victor admitted and he watched the anger rise in Yakov’s face almost cartoonishly, red pushing above his collar and toward his face until it reached his hairline and disappeared. Then he exploded.

“You know it was him the whole time!? You have been chasing this man for months and you haven’t said a word!?” Yakov yelled, his voice making Victor flinch and take a step back. Yuuri began to push away from them without making a sound.

“No, I never knew it was him.” Victor responded, attempting to keep his voice level as he spoke. Yakov threw up his hands.

“You just said you weren’t surprised! Why aren’t you surprised if you never knew it was him?” Yakov demanded, throwing his hands out toward Victor this time.

“I’ve known it was him for only a couple of days.” Victor admitted and Yakov blew yet another fuse.

“You were tasked with catching this man and the instant you learned who it was you didn’t say anything because he was your boyfriend!?” Yakov screamed, taking a step forward as if threatening to advance on Victor. The silver haired man couldn’t manage more than a nod.

“This has gone on long enough, Nikiforov! Grab your things and leave this office, I don’t want to see your face here ever again!” Yakov yelled, throwing an arm out toward the door, a menacing finger pointing toward the exit. 

“Don’t!” The sound of a chair scraping against hard floor echoed through the room and demanded absolute silence out of both Victor and Yakov. The two arguing men turned to look at the Asian man who had stood up. He had both hands on the table and was leaning forward, fighting anger in his eyes, body coiled and ready to pounce.

“I never meant to cost Victor his job! I needed money but then I felt bad about keeping the jewels, so I gave them back! I played around with Victor until I finally agreed to go out with him as me. I gave up Eros at that point, afraid of what he might do if he found out.” Yuuri pleaded, trying his best to lock eyes with Yakov.

“I never intended to come back! But JJ was prancing around town with all the jewels and I wanted to make sure I got them before he did, so I could give them back! It wasn’t Victor’s fault he couldn’t catch me. When he did I insisted he arrest me and I still don’t know why he didn’t. But please don’t fire Victor for what I did! It wasn’t his fault!” 

When he finished, his words hung in the air and Victor felt like sinking into the floor and giving him a big hug. Sadly, sinking into the floor overtook the need to give Yuuri a hug pretty quickly.

“You didn’t arrest him when you found out!?” Yakov screamed, turning his attention back to Victor so fast it was a surprise he didn’t get whiplash. 

“I…n-no, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure what to do, Yakov, he was my boyfriend.” Victor insisted, watching Yakov’s body language carefully as the man watched Victor’s.

“Nikiforov, you are thick headed and rash. You never think before you act! You were supposed to arrest this man when you caught him, not let him go because he was your ‘boyfriend.” Yakov growled, turning to a mocking tone on the final word. Victor felt like cowering in a corner, afraid of what Yakov might do. 

Yakov took a step back and rubbed his hands down his face.

“But you’re the best damn detective I have and I can’t fire you.” Yakov groaned, dropping his hands dramatically to his sides and looking up toward the ceiling. Victor’s eye widened and a grin stretched across Yuuri’s face. Was Yakov being serious? He must be dreaming, that was the only explanation for this. 

“You caught JJ and we’re going to return every jewel he ever stole. Eros-Yuuri returned everything he stole, he was just a bother, nothing more. But he still needs to be punished for what he did. Considering he actually managed to steal so many precious jewels, he could still be put away for being a threat.” Yakov explained, grabbing the chair he had been sitting in and dropping back into it with a tired thud. 

“He helped me catch JJ.” Victor blurted, taking a step toward Yakov as he said this. The director turned his head toward Victor, a single eyebrow raised. 

“Explain.” Yakov prompted, watching Victor as he said this.

“I ran into Yuuri a couple of days ago, the morning after I found out he was Eros, trying to turn himself in. I-I might have been angry at him for lying to me, but I still really care about him, so I stopped him. Right then I had an idea. He’s a far better thief than JJ ever was, so what if he helped me catch JJ? That’s what we were doing at the market today.” Victor explained, hoping this was convincing enough to get Yakov on their good side. “I never told my backup, though, so they took Yuuri before he had the chance to leave.” 

There was a moment of silence as both standing men watched Yakov look at the table, rubbing his face tiredly. The moment seemed to drag on into eternity, but Yakov eventually sighed and pushed the chair back to stand.

“I can see about lightening your sentence, but I don’t think you’ll get away completely.” Yakov finally said and both Victor and Yuuri felt their hearts lighten and their moods soar. Both watched as Yakov headed toward the door, almost bouncing in their places as he left.

The moment the door shut behind him, the air grew thick. Victor was glad Yuuri was safe, he was glad he might not get a long sentence, but he was also still not sure how to handle him. After so long together, he had found out Yuuri was the entire reason his job was on the line. It was hard to digest.

The sounds of footsteps approached him and he felt a presence beside him. Yuuri stood next to him, close enough that Victor could feel his body heat but not close enough they were touching. 

They stood like this for a few seconds in complete silence.

“Might have been.” Yuuri whispered, the words sounding more like a statement. Victor felt they were meant to be a question, but he wasn’t sure. Turning his head toward Yuuri, he gave him a confused look.

“What?” Victor asked, hoping to clarify what the smaller man had meant. Yuuri turned his amber eyes toward Victor and gave him a small smile.

“You said you might have been angry at me. Does that mean you’re not angry anymore?” Yuuri asked, hope shining clearly in his eyes. Victor looked away, afraid he was going to melt back into those eyes all over again.

“I don’t know what I am, Yuuri.” Victor mumbled, avoiding looking anywhere near the Asian man. Yuuri’s entire expression dropped and he looked away as well. More silence filled the space, but this time it was awkward and strained.

“Are we going to be okay?” Yuuri whispered, this time his voice low and sad. The tone made Victor want to grab him and hold him in his arms, telling him it was going to be okay until Yuuri believed it. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to do that again.

“I don’t know.” Victor muttered before starting toward the door. He heard Yuuri started after him but the man paused where Victor didn’t.

“Vitya, I-“ He started, but Victor cut him off before he could finish.

“I should go, Yuuri. Need to sort a few things out.” Victor didn’t turn around as he said this and disappeared out the door without looking in Yuuri’s eyes. It was pure torture, but he did it.

\----

The next few weeks were chaos as the department figured out the fine details of the Eros and JJ cases. People tiptoed around the subject of Yuuri when Victor was in the room, but he heard them talking. He didn’t mind that they talked, he just never desired to join in. 

The day of JJ’s trial was a few days before Yuuri’s. Victor was more than willing to finally have a reason to put the man away. It couldn’t have gone any smoother, too. JJ continued to attempt to protest his innocence, but evidence kept piling up and before long even his lawyer was grasping at straws. 

It was harder for the jury to decide his sentence since he had enough money to pay off any fine and any amount of bail, but eventually he got exactly what he deserved and Victor walked away pleased. 

Yuuri’s case was a little rockier, but he got away with a few weeks jail time and a small fine he would be able to pay off over the course of the next few years. Victor refused to speak at the trial and, instead, Yakov put Leo on it. The kid was close to graduating from college and near ready to start an actual career. Victor was just proud he managed to get through the whole thing without missing a beat. 

Despite not wanting to watch or participate, Victor still found himself on a bench just outside the court house, waiting for the media to attack Yuuri for being Eros and wanting to know his sentence. Victor wasn’t even facing the door but knew the instant the case was over when the paparazzi approached the door like a frenzy of hungry piranhas looking for meat. Christophe was one of them. 

Noise escalated suddenly and police attempted to push back the press, escorting Yuuri and several other people toward the vehicles waiting at the curb for them. The Asian man appeared to be looking around for someone when his eyes caught Victor and he grinned, attempting to get his attention. He was pushed into a car before he had the chance to say a word. 

It wasn’t until later that night, when the sun had just dipped below the horizon and Victor was at home, cleaning the plate he had used for dinner, that there came a knock on the door.

Upon opening it, Victor found Yuuri standing before him, scarf around his neck, hands tucked into pockets. He wore a beanie with a big yarn ball on top, his large glasses adding to the effect that made him appear as a middle school student. It pained Victor how endearing this look was. 

“Can I come in?” Yuuri asked, his big amber eyes begging to be allowed in. Victor sighed and stood aside, letting Yuuri wipe his feet and enter the living room of Victor’s apartment. It was big and empty, the only sounds coming from the drying somewhere in the back and the fire crackling on the TV.

“What do you want, Yuuri?” Victor asked, trying very hard to sound tired of dealing with this. Victor really wanted Yuuri back, but he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to trust him again. After lying about something as big as Eros, who knew what else he could be hiding. 

Yuuri turned around from scanning the apartment fondly and locked eyes with Victor. His soft, gentle eyes went immediately determined, a fire burning in them. Victor was surprised at how confident he looked, but he could almost sense the slight hesitation in his voice. This had been well rehearsed.

“I still love you, Victor. I love the way you flirt with me and the way your eyes look when you’re begging me for something even if you know I’m going to say yes. I love wearing your big sweaters and sleeping in your bed. I love hearing you hum softly when I fall asleep on you while watching a movie and the way you can cook only a few different meals. I love how you’re not ashamed to be you and how, even though you act like you hate me, you still hesitate every time I come up in conversation.” Yuuri rambled for a while about this and Victor felt himself freeze up inside. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to hug Yuuri and never let go.

“Victor Nikiforov, I will never stop loving you, even if you stop loving me.” Yuuri finished, his confidence faltering near the end as his voice cracked. A tear streamed down one of his cheeks and Victor felt the urge to step forward and brush it away, but he resisted. 

For a moment there was silence as Victor tried to articulate what he wanted to say.

“Yuuri, I’m so confused. I care for you, but I don’t know if I can trust you. You hid Eros so well, who knows what else you could be hiding?” Victor responded, feeling himself mentally backing away from another commitment with this man. Yuuri nodded and took a deep breath.

“Then I’ll tell you everything.” He said, and the rant started.

“I broke my first bone when I was four. I told everyone it was because I had been riding my bike and fallen into a pole, but it was really because I fell off the counter trying to get a cookie from the cookie jar.” He started, and Victor had to refrain from laughing at this. 

“At age ten I kissed my first girl. She was my friend since we were really little and we skated together all the time. It was silly and childish, but we both decided right then we didn’t like each other that way. It still broke my heart when she married my best friend a few years ago.” 

“When I was twelve I kissed a boy from school. We never talked after that but it started to confuse me how nice it had felt. I began to turn in on myself. I was afraid of what this might mean, what others might think of it, what it would do to my career. I almost developed depression, but then Phichit came along.”

“Phichit was just like you, Victor. When I turned fourteen he became my best friend and we were inseparable. At age fifteen he was my first boyfriend. At age eighteen my first lover.” Victor felt his heart skip a beat at this. Yuuri hadn’t been a virgin when they had done it for the first time together. Something about this surprised him, but also didn’t.

“And, Victor? It hurt like hell. I didn’t want to ever do it again but he convinced me to give it another go and we did. That time it was the best thing I had ever experienced. It was right then I knew I was gay, Victor. I lied to my mother about who Phichit was to me. For five years she thought we were friends but then, at nineteen, she caught me kissing him in my room. We had been planning to go the third time that night.” Victor almost felt like laughing at this, the thought of Yuuri and Phichit being caught by Yuuri’s mother on his bed amusing. But Yuuri continued and Victor’s mood became somber.

“They wanted to kick me out. To disown me.” Yuuri’s voice faltered and tears began to stream down his face, but he continued. “But Phichit convinced them I wasn’t broken. That we were normal and there was nothing wrong with me liking boys. My dad still makes homophobic jokes, Victor, without realizing he’s doing it. But he tries. He tries so damn hard.” Yuuri sobbed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“When we turned twenty, Phichit broke it off with me because he didn’t know how it was going to work. We went to different colleges and I didn’t see him for three years. In that time I never once fell in love. I had a few flings I regret immensely, but never once did I feel a spark in any of them. I fell into depression and this time, it was real. It was so real, Victor.”

“Phichit showed up like an angel on my doorstep and brought me back. Sometimes I still fall back into it, but Phichit is always there for me when I need him. I took up a job in my parents’ hotel after college, but I wasn’t happy. Phichit found me a job in the ballet studio where Yuri goes and that’s when I met you. I hadn’t even been working for a full month when you showed up.” Yuuri laughed, the sound almost like a choking sob.

“Did you know I fell in love the instant I saw your face?” Victor stopped fighting tears at this point, ignoring his determination to continue to push Yuuri away. “I was so afraid, Victor, that I insisted I couldn’t date you. That was the same day Eros started. I enjoyed being someone who was confident enough to tease the great Victor Nikiforov, biggest ladies’ man in the city. But then you came in that day. You looked so defeated, exactly how I had felt when Phichit had left me. I couldn’t say no.” Yuuri wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled. “And that brings us to now.”

There was a moment of silence as Victor processed all of this. Yuuri had told him his life story. It hadn’t seemed all that eventful, but it was clearly more than he had ever told anyone except those who had lived it with him. It meant a whole lot to Yuuri, and Victor could tell. 

“I don’t expect you to forgive me, but Victor, I want you to know I will never lie to you ever again. I promise that whatever you ask me, I will tell you the honest truth. Whatever I do, I will let you know.” Yuuri nodded as if confirming this to himself as well. Victor took a shaky breath and pulled Yuuri into a swift hug. There was laughter from against his chest and he couldn’t help but laugh a bit as well. Yuuri pushed his head toward Victor’s shoulder for breath.

“Are we going to be okay, Vitya?” Yuuri sobbed into his shoulder, his laughter still wracking his body.

“I don’t know, Yuuri. I’m still confused. I want to try again, but I’m scared. I don’t want you to hurt, but I don’t want to hurt either.” Victor responded, burying his face into Yuuri’s neck and letting the tears flow.

“Then let’s try, Victor. Let’s start from the beginning.” Yuuri said, pulling out of the hug against Victor’s wishes. He wiped the tears from his eyes and held out his hand with a smile. “Hi, I’m Yuuri Katsuki, it’s nice to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin


End file.
